Stored Product Pests Teaching Collection 
Since humans have practiced agriculture, we have been at war with the insects that eat and contaminate our harvested grain. Every year ~13 million tons of grain annually are lost to stored grain pests. These stored-grain insects often cause as much loss after harvest as crop pests cause during the growing season.
In developed nations, stored grain insects destroy almost 9% of the post-harvest grain. Whereas in developing countries, with worse storage infrastructure and fewer insect control options, the number jumps to 20% or higher. Insects are a threat to dried, stored, durable and perishable agricultural products and non-food derivatives of agricultural products and contribute to food insecurity worldwide.
Direct-feeding damage by insects reduces grain weight, nutritional value, and germination of stored grain. Not only do insects consume the grain they infest, they also contaminate food products. An infestation leaves behind live insects, insect products like chemical excretions (like enterotoxins and mycotoxins which makes grain more susceptible to mold), silk, dead insects, or insect exoskeletons. Infestations also cause contamination, odor, mold, and heat-damage problems that reduce the quality of the grain and may make it unfit for processing into food for humans or animals.
Included within this kit are 32 examples of the most significant stored product pest species, most of which, thanks to anthropization, are found globally. Therefore, the included specimens help to illustrate the primary groups of arthropods that globally impact stored grain quantity and quality.
Specimens come preserved in alcohol in clear, archival-quality glass vials with poly-seal caps to prevent evaporation. All specimens are sent with alcohol-proof, and typed specimen data labels. Kits are also available to be upgraded to have everything pinned, labeled, and sold in a riker-style frame to protect the specimens while being handled, but still allow their easy viewing by students.
| Quality | A1- |
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$247.00 – $537.00
