Population Growth of Three Stored Product Beetle Species on Alphitobius diaperinus (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) Meals

The lesser mealworm, Alphitobius diaperinus (Panzer) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae), is an important pest of stored products and at the same time a species with great potential as food and feed that has recently attracted increasing interest as nutrient source. Future predictions show a massive increas...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of economic entomology 2023-04, Vol.116 (2), p.621-626
Main Authors: Rigopoulou, M., Rumbos, C. I., Athanassiou, C. G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alphitobius diaperinus
Animals
Backup software
Beetles
Coleoptera
edible insect
Growth
insect infestation
insect meal
Insects
Insects as food
Larva
lesser mealworm
Meals
Pests
Population density
Population Growth
Population studies
Product introduction
Statistics
Stored products
STORED-PRODUCT
Tenebrio
Tenebrio molitor
Tenebrionidae
Tribolium castaneum
Wheat
Wheat bran
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Summary:The lesser mealworm, Alphitobius diaperinus (Panzer) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae), is an important pest of stored products and at the same time a species with great potential as food and feed that has recently attracted increasing interest as nutrient source. Future predictions show a massive increase of insect meals' production in the near future, therefore, as expected in the case of other durable stored products, insect meals may get infested by insects during their storage. In this context and as a continuance of our previous study on the susceptibility of meal of the yellow mealworm, Tenebrio molitor L. (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae), to storage insect infestations, the objective of this study was to test the susceptibility of A. diaperinus meals to infestations of three stored products pests, namely A. diaperinus itself, T. molitor, and the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae). The population growth of the three species was evaluated on pure A. diaperinus meal, as well as on A. diaperinus meal-based substrates with different percentages of wheat bran (0, 25, 50, 90, and 100% bran). Our results showed that all three insect species tested were able to grow and develop on the A. diaperinus meal-based substrates evaluated, giving in a short time high population densities. This study confirms again our initial theory for insect infestations during storage of insect-based products.
ISSN:0022-0493
1938-291X
DOI:10.1093/jee/toad025