Damage by Pests in Herbarium LJU

The article discusses the damage caused by herbarium pests in Herbarium LJU. The aim of the study was to determine the damage in the herbarium, to find out, which herbarium-pests are present, and to investigate their food-preference by means of checking the extent of damage on a selection of plant families Alliaceae, Apiaceae, Araceae, Asteraceae, Brassicaceae, Chenopodiaceae, Cichoriaceae, Faba- ceae, Lamiaceae, Poaceae, Polypodiaceae, Ranunculaceae, Rosaceae and Scrophulariaceae. Since the Asteraceae and Cichoriaceae are known to be among the most attractive families for herbarium-pests, we examined them in detail. In the study about 7500 herbarium sheets were examined, which represents 5% of all the sheets inHerbarium LJU. In addition to the most frequent pest tobacco beetle (Lasioderma serricorne), we also found beetles Stegobium paniceum and Attagenuspiceus, booklice (Psocoptera), moulds and Pharaoh’s ants (cf. Monomorium pharaonis). Pest-damage was observed in 18 % of the examined herbarium sheets. The study confirmed that the pests are prone to attack certain families over others: the greatest damage (about 25 % - 40 % of the damaged sheets)was observed in Apiaceae, Asteraceae s. lat., Brassicaceae, Fabaceae, Alliaceae, Araceae, Rosaceae and Chenopodiaceae, while the other investigated families ranked among less damaged (about less then 10 % of the damaged sheets). Among Asteraceae, tribus Cardueae proved to be the most attractive tribe for the pests.