Use of dermestid beetles for cleaning bones

Various parts of the skeleton of normal and osteoporotic rats were compared with respect to their dry weight, ash weight, and calcium content when the bones were cleaned by Dermestes maculatus beetles or manually. Both techniques gave similar results. This was also true when whole body calcium measured by neutron activation and total skeletal calcium from bones cleaned by the beetles were compared. Thus dermestid beetles are useful as a technique to clean bones, especially for the parts of the skeleton which are difficult to dissect by hand.