Hasnaoui Bouthaina, Fohrer Fabien, Parola Philippe, Berenger Jean-Michel
IHU Méditerranée Infection, Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France.
Aix Marseille University, AP-HM, RITMES, Marseille, France.
PeerJ. 2025 Jan 13;13:e18700. doi: 10.7717/peerj.18700. eCollection 2025.
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.
害虫对历史建筑和住宅的完整性构成威胁，会造成严重损失和不可逆转的破坏。这些害虫会对有机材料造成广泛破坏，包括木材、纺织品和纸张。甲虫、白蚁、书虱、飞蛾和蟑螂只是历史建筑和住宅中常见的一些主要害虫。诸如家具甲虫和粉蠹虫等甲虫种类，因其侵扰和啃食木材的能力而广为人知。白蚁侵害可能不易被察觉，并造成相当大的破坏，甚至可能导致建筑物结构完整性的完全破坏。已知衣蛾幼虫会损坏纺织品，包括地毯、家具、衣物和挂毯。一些破坏木材的蟑螂种类有可能对历史建筑造成损害。书虱能够啃食存放在遗产建筑中的存档物品和文物中的纤维素纤维，随着时间的推移会导致文件变质和损坏。本文回顾了相关文献，并概述了属于鞘翅目、蜚蠊目、鳞翅目、缨尾目（衣鱼）和啮目这五个已知目的主要害虫，它们对家庭、博物馆、仓库、图书馆和文化遗产建筑构成威胁。我们还讨论了它们的生物学特性、对人类健康的影响以及识别它们的各种潜在方法。
