First record of Gastrallus laticollis pic 1929 (coleoptera: Bostrichoidea: Ptinidae) in Sri Lanka

Libraries, archives and museums in tropical countries like Sri Lanka are at great risk to be infested by insect pests. These can damage especially celluloses-based and starch glue materials and objects like books, paper or traditional palm leave manuscripts. Besides beetles (Coleoptera, mainly Ptinidae), also termites (Isoptera) and silverfish (Zygentoma) are the most problematic pests infesting these collections across the island. We sampled the pests and their abundance in the National Museum Library in Colombo and found six different species of library pests: the termite Cryptotermes sp., two silverfish species Lepisma saccharinum, Ctenolepisma longicaudatum and three beetle species of Ptinidae: Lasioderma serricorne, Stegobium paniceum and Gastrallus laticollis. G. laticollis is a new species to the fauna of Sri Lanka, it is only known from Singapore. Its occurrence in Sri Lanka and the distribution of other species of the genera Gastrallus in Asia are discussed.