The black soldier fly, Hermetia illucens L. (Stratiomyidae; Diptera), is a common
and widespread non-pest fly and an essential decomposer of organic material. Because of
its ability to decompose wastes and return nutrients to the environment, it is considered to
be a beneficial insect for manure management in confined animal facilities. Larvae are an
excellent source of protein and other nutrients and are used for fish and animal feed. The
development of efficient rearing systems for black soldier fly is important in order to
provide a source of larvae to initiate soldier fly-based waste-recycling systems and to
augment populations in existing systems. However information on black soldier fly
rearing is relatively limited. The objectives of this study were: (1) to compare different
media to identify those that result in optimal black soldier fly pupation rates and to track
effects on subsequent adult emergence and oviposition, and (2) to determine the influence
of moisture level in the pupation media on adult emergence. Three different pupation
media were evaluated in the first experiment; compost, mulch and vermiculite. The
results indicated that adult emergence rates were not significantly different among the
different pupation media suggesting that all three media are suitable for pupation. A
second experiment was done to evaluate the influence of moisture in mulch pupation
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media. In this experiment, the average number of adults emerging from the medium and
high moisture level treatments were significantly greater than in the low moisture
treatment. In addition, the overall total adult male and female emergence rates were also
significantly higher in the high and medium moisture treatments compared to the low
moisture treatment. These results suggest that moisture levels in pupation media should
be maintained between 50-85% to achieve optimum adult emergence rates. However,
about 10% of emergent adults in the high moisture level treatment had malformed wings.
Therefore, moisture levels between 50-55% may be ideal to achieve optimum adult
emergence without the occurrence of abnormal wing development. Successful adult
mating and oviposition was achieved in commercially available BugDormTM tents kept
inside a greenhouse with supplemental lighting. These results demonstrate that successful
black soldier fly mating and oviposition can occur in small cages with sufficient numbers
of adults present and if they are kept in a greenhouse under the conditions described
herein