Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2010, Blaðsíða 96

VÉRONIQUE FORBES, ALLISON BAIN, GUÐRÚN ALDA GÍSLADÓTTIR AND KAREN B. MILEK
Cellar samples yielded as many as 385
individuals of the species Tipnus unicol-
or (Fig. 6). In Iceland, this species is pri-
marily a synanthrope, but it is rather rare
in modem contexts and is generally
found in ancient buildings (Erling Ólafs-
son, personal communication, 2008). It
seems to prefer drier conditions provided
by human habitats rather than barns,
byres or sheds, even though it can also be
encountered there (Buckland et al. 1991,
139). It also favours cooler temperatures
than other spider beetles species to com-
plete its development, i.e. between 17.5
and 20°C. (Howe 1955). The adults feed
on flour, bread, cereals, dead insects and
dung from small rodents and humans.
Elsewhere in Europe, T. unicolor is also
present in buildings, especially in mouldy
and damp situations though not in obvi-
ously wet or rotten material (O’Farrell &
Butler 1948, 361), while its larva are
often found in bird and rodent excre-
ments or in damp and decaying vegeta-
tion, including wood (Howe 1955;
Larsson & Gígja 1959, 165-167). Only
one Ptinus tectus was found (fíg.6).
According to Larsson & Gígja (1959,
169), this species is likely to be found in
dried fish and mutton in Iceland, though
it can also feed on other vegetal and ani-
mal matter. In Canada it has also been
taken on poultry and bran (Campbell et
al. 1989, 332-334), while in Greenland, it
has been discovered inside leather goods
in stores and stables (Böcher 1988,49).
Sitophilus oryzae or the rice weevil is
an important pest of grain stores, capable
of causing serious damage to wheat, rice,
com, rye, barley, buckwheat, sorghum and
other cereals and their by-products
Figure 6. Left: head and pronotum o/Ptinus
tectus, right: head and pronotum o/Tipnus
unicolor. Found in S-510.
(Bousquet 1990, 100-101; Campbell etal.
1989,227). As this species originates from
subtropical regions, it requires tempera-
tures higher than 10°C to complete its life
cycle, while 25-33 °C represents the opti-
mal range of temperatures (Nakakita &
Ikenaga 1997). For this reason, in Iceland
the species lives in stored grains and is
therefore exclusively synanthropic.
The dungfeeders
The family Scarabaeidae is represented
by four specimens of Aphodius lappon-
um, a common dung beetle in Iceland,
which feeds on the dung of large mam-
mals. As Iceland lacks an indigenous
large land mammal fauna, it is associated
with the dung of domesticated animals in
stables and cultivated fields. It has been
found in human excrement, but since it
seems to prefer dung with abundant
fíbrous material (Osbome 1983, 459), it
is unknown whether this species can
breed in human or other non-herbivorous
mammals, such as dogs and cats (Larsson
& Gígja 1959, 128).
One single individual of the species
Creophillus maxillosus was found in cel-
lar 7503. This rove beetle normally lives
in carrion where it feeds on maggots, bee-
94