The yellow mealworm, also known as the breadworm, belongs to the insect taxonomy of Coleoptera, Anopheles, and Pink Beetle (Anopheles spp.). It is native to North America and was introduced to China from the Soviet Union in the 1950s.

Dried yellow mealworms contain 30% fat and more than 50% protein, in addition to phosphorus, potassium, iron, sodium, aluminum and other macronutrients and a variety of trace elements. Because the dried yellow mealworm larvae contain about 40% protein, pupae contain 57%, adult worms contain 60%, known as "protein feed treasure house".

The yellow mealworm can not only be used as feed, but also can be eaten. Its larvae contain 56.58% crude protein, fat 28.20%, pupae contain 57% crude protein, adult insects contain 64% crude protein, its content is much higher than eggs, beef, mutton and other conventional animal foods, and easy to digest and absorb, known as the insect "king of protein".

Expanded Information

Morphological characteristics

The yellow mealworm life (refers to a growth cycle), is divided into eggs, larvae, pupae, adult four stages.

2. Eggs

Milky white, very small, about 1-2 millimeters long, 0.5 millimeters in diameter, oval in shape. There is an eggshell outside the egg, which is relatively thin and plays a protective role, and the egg fluid is white milky mucus. Eggs are divided into: eggshell, egg nucleus, yolk, protoplasm.

2. Larvae

Yellow and glossy, about 35 millimeters long, about 3 millimeters wide, cylindrical. There are thirteen segments. The joints of the segments have yellow-brown rings. The ventral surface is yellowish. The cephalothorax occupies a short proportion of the body, about 1 /5 of the body. the body is straight, the skin is firm and thicker in the middle. The terminal abdominal segment is small. Cephalic suture U-shaped, mouth flattened. The caudal process of the 9th abdominal segment is nearly right-angled to the longitudinal axis of the body. The caudal process is pointed and curved upward.

3. Pupa

Larvae grow to about 2-3 centimeters in length after 50 days and begin to pupate. The pupa has a large head and a small tail, the head is basically molded, and the two legs (thin wings) are close to the thorax downward. The sides of the pupa are jagged and angular. The pupa is white and translucent at first, the body is soft, gradually turning brown and then hard.

4, adult

Pupa at 25 ℃ above after a week after molting into adult. Worms just molt out of milky white, crustaceans are very thin, after ten hours to become yellowish brown, blackish brown, glossy, oval, about 14 millimeters long, about 6 millimeters wide, the crustaceans become thick and hard, this time fully mature. After mating and laying eggs for the second generation of reproduction. The body is divided into three parts: head, thorax and abdomen.

The head of the adult grows a pair of tentacles more than the head of the larva and is five times longer than the larval face. There are three pairs of legs, one pair on the anterior thorax and two pairs on the abdomen, and the legs are eight to ten times longer than those of the larva. Each foot with two hooked claws at the tip, the toes with hairy spines. The dorsal wings have a number of vertical stripes. Although the adult has a pair of beautiful wings, but only for short distance flight, wings on the one hand to protect the body, on the other hand, also help to crawl.

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