For most insects, nutrition affects survivorship of
adults and their reproductive outputs. Generally,
female fecundity depends on the ingestion of proteins
which are necessary for egg development whereas
male fertility does not highly depend on proteins.
Moreover, insects generally are unable to convert
lipids to monosaccharides by themselves and
carbohydrates are one notrient that both sexes use as
a primary energy source.(1) Nutritional factors reportedly
had profound short-term and long-term effects on the
development and reproduction of insects.(2) Even
though the nutritional requirements of most insects
are relatively similar, the optimal sources, types, and
proportions of nutrients widely vary among species
and reproductive stages.(2)