We have lost all of our dermastids due to fly larvae. After a month we had ham beetles appearing and I was wondering if they would do as good of a job to get rid of meat from bones, so that we can put the specimens in the museum
Hello Varvara; Like you I have long used dermestids for skeleton preparation. More than once the colony was infested by Ham Beetles or Argentine Ants. I think that the Ham Beetles prey on the eggs and larvae of the dermestids and the ants carry off the eggs. Bad news. I'd be quite surprised if Ham Beetles are useful in the bug box.
I sterilized my bug boxes and associated materials. I then found new dermestids. They can be readily found under "road pizzas"...dead, dry carcasses along roads. The weather needs to be warm. I collect only adults. Best of luck, Jim Des Lauriers
Thank you. We found some dead fox but they were infested with just flies. Do you think that if we leave the carcass in our garden the dermestids could appear, or do they have a preference for a habitat?
Varvara; If there were fly maggots in the fox it was still too moist. The beetles are surprisingly picky. They prefer dried out carcasses...the meat has a texture like beef jerky. Not quite dry enough crack when bent.
Put the foxes in a dry, warm place that is open to the general environment. The beetles will find it. The beetles are cosmopolitan and occur even in the wet English countryside. I've attached a link to an image of the ventral side of the species that you are looking for...Dermestes maculatus.
https://bugguide.net/node/view/39727
Cheers, Jim Des Lauriers
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