Common insect pests in homes and cultural heritage sites

Insect pests represent a threat to the integrity of historic buildings and homes, causing serious losses and irreversible damage. These pests can cause extensive damage to organic materials, including wood, textiles, and paper. Beetles, termites, booklice, moths, and cockroaches are just some of the...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Bouthaina Hasnaoui, Fabien Fohrer, Philippe Parola, Jean-Michel Berenger
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: PeerJ Inc. 2025-01-01
Series:PeerJ
Subjects:
Online Access:https://peerj.com/articles/18700.pdf
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1841527458882387968
author Bouthaina Hasnaoui
Fabien Fohrer
Philippe Parola
Jean-Michel Berenger
author_facet Bouthaina Hasnaoui
Fabien Fohrer
Philippe Parola
Jean-Michel Berenger
author_sort Bouthaina Hasnaoui
collection DOAJ
description Insect pests represent a threat to the integrity of historic buildings and homes, causing serious losses and irreversible damage. These pests can cause extensive damage to organic materials, including wood, textiles, and paper. Beetles, termites, booklice, moths, and cockroaches are just some of the main insect pests that are frequently found in historic buildings and homes. Beetle species such as the furniture beetle and the powderpost beetle are well recognised for their capacity to infest and feed on wood. Termite infestations can remain undetected and cause considerable damage that may even lead to the complete destruction of a building’s structural integrity. Cloth moth larvae are known to damage textiles, including carpets, furniture, clothes, and tapestries. Some wood-destroying species of cockroaches have the potential to harm historic buildings. Booklice have the ability to eat cellulose fibres found in archived articles and artefacts stored in heritage buildings, causing deterioration and damage to documents over time. This article reviews the literature and presents an overview of the major insect pests belonging to five known orders Coleoptera, Blattodea, Lepidoptera, Zygentoma (long-tailed silverfish) and Psocoptera, which pose a threat to households, museums, depositories, libraries, and cultural heritage buildings. We also discuss their biology, their impact on human health, and the various potential approaches to identifying them.
format Article
id doaj-art-be771b305f694a6b9edec2ef64b6dabe
institution Kabale University
issn 2167-8359
language English
publishDate 2025-01-01
publisher PeerJ Inc.
record_format Article
series PeerJ
spelling doaj-art-be771b305f694a6b9edec2ef64b6dabe2025-01-15T15:05:17ZengPeerJ Inc.PeerJ2167-83592025-01-0113e1870010.7717/peerj.18700Common insect pests in homes and cultural heritage sitesBouthaina Hasnaoui0Fabien Fohrer1Philippe Parola2Jean-Michel Berenger3IHU Méditerranée Infection, Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, FranceCentre Interdisciplinaire de Conservation et de Restauration du Patrimoine, Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, FranceIHU Méditerranée Infection, Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, FranceIHU Méditerranée Infection, Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, FranceInsect pests represent a threat to the integrity of historic buildings and homes, causing serious losses and irreversible damage. These pests can cause extensive damage to organic materials, including wood, textiles, and paper. Beetles, termites, booklice, moths, and cockroaches are just some of the main insect pests that are frequently found in historic buildings and homes. Beetle species such as the furniture beetle and the powderpost beetle are well recognised for their capacity to infest and feed on wood. Termite infestations can remain undetected and cause considerable damage that may even lead to the complete destruction of a building’s structural integrity. Cloth moth larvae are known to damage textiles, including carpets, furniture, clothes, and tapestries. Some wood-destroying species of cockroaches have the potential to harm historic buildings. Booklice have the ability to eat cellulose fibres found in archived articles and artefacts stored in heritage buildings, causing deterioration and damage to documents over time. This article reviews the literature and presents an overview of the major insect pests belonging to five known orders Coleoptera, Blattodea, Lepidoptera, Zygentoma (long-tailed silverfish) and Psocoptera, which pose a threat to households, museums, depositories, libraries, and cultural heritage buildings. We also discuss their biology, their impact on human health, and the various potential approaches to identifying them.https://peerj.com/articles/18700.pdfPsocopteraLepidopteraColeopteraBuildingInsect pestsBlattodea
spellingShingle Bouthaina Hasnaoui
Fabien Fohrer
Philippe Parola
Jean-Michel Berenger
Common insect pests in homes and cultural heritage sites
PeerJ
Psocoptera
Lepidoptera
Coleoptera
Building
Insect pests
Blattodea
title Common insect pests in homes and cultural heritage sites
title_full Common insect pests in homes and cultural heritage sites
title_fullStr Common insect pests in homes and cultural heritage sites
title_full_unstemmed Common insect pests in homes and cultural heritage sites
title_short Common insect pests in homes and cultural heritage sites
title_sort common insect pests in homes and cultural heritage sites
topic Psocoptera
Lepidoptera
Coleoptera
Building
Insect pests
Blattodea
url https://peerj.com/articles/18700.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT bouthainahasnaoui commoninsectpestsinhomesandculturalheritagesites
AT fabienfohrer commoninsectpestsinhomesandculturalheritagesites
AT philippeparola commoninsectpestsinhomesandculturalheritagesites
AT jeanmichelberenger commoninsectpestsinhomesandculturalheritagesites