Carpet beetle species (Coleoptera: Dermestidae) in Austrian heritage interiors and their European distributions

Brimblecombe, P., Holloway, G. and Querner, P. (2026) Carpet beetle species (Coleoptera: Dermestidae) in Austrian heritage interiors and their European distributions. Insects, 17 (6). 654. ISSN 2075-4450 doi: 10.3390/insects17060654

Abstract/Summary

Museums are concerned about damage to collections by insects; a risk that can increase under a changing climate or through larger numbers of invasive pests introduced with imported materials, exhibition loans and international travel. These changes have led to the appearance of novel species of silverfish and beetles in these buildings. Carpet beetles are dermestids (2000 species worldwide). Two important genera are studied here Anthrenus and Attagenus, which were caught in 31 museums, libraries and storerooms from locations across the east of Austria. The catch of these two types of carpet beetles in the buildings was loosely proportionate. However, colder buildings seemed to favour species such as Anthrenus fuscus. Anthrenus olgae, though frequently caught in Austria, appears less common elsewhere, suggesting carpet beetles have different ranges in Europe. A warmer future is likely to mean an increasing number of different species becoming a potential threat to heritage collections.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/id/eprint/130756
Identification Number/DOI	10.3390/insects17060654
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Life Sciences > School of Biological Sciences > Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Central Services > Academic and Governance Services > University Museums and Special Collections
Publisher	MDPI
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