Evidence of Fungal Spreading by the Grey Silverfish (Ctenolepisma longicaudatum) in Austrian Museums
-
Pascal Querner
and
Katja Sterflinger
Abstract
The grey silverfish Ctenolepisma longicaudatum is a new and serious pest spreading rapidly across Europe. Compared to the silverfish Lepisma saccharinum, it does not depend on relative humidity above 70% and thrives also in new museum buildings, modern storage depositories, apartments, and office buildings. Especially collections of graphic art, modern art on paper, photographs, but also archives and libraries are increasingly affected by this pest. Damage of paper objects has been reported by different authors and institutions across Europe. As these animals live in inaccessible cracks and crevices inside the buildings, we investigated the spread of microorganisms on living grey silverfish, to show a potential additional threat posed by this pest. In 8 locations in Austria living animals were collected with traps and placed for 10 min on agar plates which were incubated for 2 weeks. After incubation of 50 agar plates, between 2 and 20 colonies of fungi were growing on each plate. The most dominant fungal genera were Cladosporium (Cladosporium cladosporioides clade) and Penicillium (Penicillium glabrum, Penicillium decumbens); also, species of the genera Aspergillus, Alternaria, Botrytis, Bartalinia, Byssochlamis, Chaetomium and Mycothypha were found. The diversity of fungi reflects the common fungal community of museums and archives. The spores and mycelial fragments of the fungi are obviously travelling on the legs and bodies of the silverfish.
Zusammenfassung
Das Papierfischchen Ctenolepisma longicaudatum ist ein neuer und ernstzunehmender Schädling, der sich derzeit rasch in ganz Europa verbreitet. Im Vergleich zum Silberfischchen Lepisma saccharinum braucht das Papierfischchen keine relative Luftfeuchtigkeit von über 70% und gedeiht auch in neuen Museumsgebäuden, modernen Lagerräumen, Wohnungen und Bürogebäuden. Vor allem Grafik- und Fotosammlungen, Sammlungen moderner Kunst, aber auch Archive und Bibliotheken sind zunehmend bedroht von diesem noch wenig bekannten Schädling. Schäden an Papierobjekten werden bereits von verschiedenen Autoren und Institutionen in ganz Europa gemeldet. Da diese Tiere in unzugänglichen Ritzen und Spalten innerhalb der Gebäude leben, untersuchten wir die Verbreitung von Mikroorganismen durch lebende Papierfischchen, um eine potenzielle zusätzliche Bedrohung durch diesen Schädling aufzuzeigen. An 8 Standorten in Österreich wurden lebende Tiere mit Fallen gesammelt und 10 Minuten auf Agarplatten gelegt, die 2 Wochen inkubiert wurden. Nach einer Inkubation von 50 Agarplatten wuchsen auf jeder Platte zwischen 2 und 20 Pilzkolonien. Die dominantesten Pilzgattungen waren Cladosporium (Cladosporium cladosporioides clade) und Penicillium (Penicillium glabrum, Penicillium decumbens); es wurden auch Arten der Gattungen Aspergillus, Alternaria, Botrytis, Bartalinia, Byssochlamis, Chaetomium und Mycothypha gefunden – allesamt Schimmelpilze, die häufig in Museen und Archiven vorkommen. Die Sporen und Myzelfragmente der Pilze werden offensichtlich auf den Beinen und Körpern des Papierfischchens transportiert.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank all museums that support an IPM program.
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