Phoenix worms
| Hermetia illucens | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Diptera |
| Suborder: | Brachycera |
| Infraorder: | Tabanomorpha |
| Superfamily: | Stratiomyoidea |
| Family: | Stratiomyidae |
| Subfamily: | Hermetiinae |
| Genus: | Hermetia |
| Species: | H. illucens |
| Binomial name | |
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Hermetia illucens (Linnaeus, 1758) |
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Hermetia illucens, the black soldier fly, is a common and widespread fly of the family Stratiomyidae. The larvae and adults are considered neither pests nor vectors. Instead, black soldier fly larvae play a similar role to that of redworms as essential decomposers in breaking down organic substrates and returning nutrients to the soil.
Black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) are an excellent source of sustainable protein for aquaculture, animal feed, and pet and human nutrition. The larvae have voracious appetites and can be used for composting household food scraps and agricultural waste products.
Black soldier fly eggs hatch in approximately four days and are typically deposited in crevices or on surfaces above or adjacent to decaying matter such as manure or compost. The larvae range in size from 1⁄8–3⁄4 inch (3–19 mm). Although they can be stored at room temperature for several weeks, their longest shelf life is achieved at 50–60 °F (10–16 °C).
The adult fly, which measures about 16 mm (5/8 inch), has a life span of 5 to 8 days. It is a mimic, very close in size, color, and appearance to the organ pipe mud dauber wasp and its relatives. The mimicry of this particular kind of wasp is especially enhanced in that the fly's antennae are elongated and wasp-like, the fly's hind tarsi are pale, as are the wasp's, and the fly has two small transparent "windows" in the basal abdominal segments that make the fly appear to have a narrow "wasp waist". The adult soldier fly has no functioning mouthparts; it spends its time searching for mates and reproducing.
Black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) are used to compost waste or convert the waste into animal feed. The harvested pupae and prepupae are eaten by poultry, fish, pigs, turtles; even dogs. The wastes include fresh manure, food wastes of both animal and vegetable origin.
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Wikipedia