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Sefrania bleusei (Pic, 1899)

Synonym(s) : 

Attagenus bleusei (in Kocher, 1956)

Common names

  • Le dermeste de Bleuse

Classification:

  • Order:  Coleoptera
  • Family:  Dermestidae
  • Genus:  Sefrania
  • Species:  bleusei

Frequency index:

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Overview

Sefrania bleusei was introduced in France recently; that Dermestidae was found for the first time within the premises of the CICRP in Marseilles by Fabien Fohrer in 2002, and it was regularly caught again within the same premises in the following years.

The species is described in Algeria. It is presently the only species known in the Sefrania genus; the genus is therefore monospecific. The genus name Sefrania is derived from the name of the Algerian town Ain Sefra, and the species name bleusei was given as a tribute to the entomologist L. Bleuse who discovered it in the room he occupied in Ain Sefra.

Sefrania bleusei belong to the Megatominae sub-family and to the Attagenini tribe. They can easily be told from other Dermestidae thanks to their lanky shape, their highly characteristic antennae (they alone are sufficient for identifying the species), the structure of their tarsi and their frontal ocellus.
There exist very few published data about Sefrania bleusei. Little is currently known about that species, whether about its biology or about its geographical distribution.
As Sefrania bleusei are inconspicuous and have a mainly necrophagous food diet, they are to be dreaded in insect collections, stuffed animal collections, and on ethnographic works…
Females are not very active and remain hidden away most of the time, unlike males which easily fly and are very active.

Recognition criteria

Adult

Size   

3.5 to 4 mm long

Aspect    

Oval-shaped, elongate, convex toward the rear end.
Head slightly depressed at the level of the forehead and fairly distinct from the prothorax. One median ocellus on the forehead.
Elytra covered in a thick pubescence of flat yellowish bristles pointing toward the rear end. 

Eleven-articled antennae in males and females. In females, the last 3 articles form a club. The last article is about 1.5-fold longer than the last-but-one, and the first 8 articles are nearly the same length as the last 3 together (the club). In males, antennae are much longer than in females, the last article alone is nearly the same length as the rest of the antenna.

Let us note that that Dermestidae’s peculiar antennae alone are enough to characterise the gender and the species.
Long, fine legs. Tarsi are at least the same length as the corresponding tibiae.
The first tarsal article is short: it is 1/5 of the length of the second article.

Colour   

Dark yellowish to light brown

Larva

Size   

 

Aspect  

Regularly slenderer and slenderer from the front end to the rear end. The terminal part has a brush of long, light-coloured hairs.

Colour   

Globally yellowish to light brown. Alternating light-yellowish and brown stripes on the upper part.

Development cycle

To this day data have been lacking about the biology and the life cycle of that strange, inconspicuous species.
Apparently females do not fly and are not very active; they remain hidden away most of the time.

Males fly easily and are very active.
Females seem to be in much lower numbers than males, but their habits may be different.

In France the species was regularly found from February to May for several consecutive years, which suggests that there might be only one generation per year.

Infected materials

Sefrania bleusei’s food diet is mainly necrophagous: it is composed of fragments of various proteinaceous organic matters. In Poland, the species was found on dry stuffed animals (fish, amphibians and collection insects), and F. Fohrer observed a larva on a dead dipteran.

He also bred the species in laboratory, feeding the insects with fish flour, felt, diptera bodies (Calliphoridae) and remains of canvas-mounting glue containing skin glue.
They are to be dreaded in museum collections (insect collections, stuffed animal collections, ethnographic works…) 

Geographical distribution