Adult behaviour as the next frontier for optimising industrial production of the black soldier fly Hermetia illucens (L.) (Diptera: Stratiomyidae)

Abstract

The black soldier fly is the ‘crown jewel’ of the insects as feed industry. Over the past two decades, a tremendous amount of research has been published on larval development, uses of the process, and the biomass generated. However, outside of knowing that adults lek in the wild, and that they rely on components of sunlight to mate, little is known about the adult biology. Given that industrial producers are reliant on the adult to produce offspring, digests organic substrates to produce insect biomass for use as feed, this lack of information on adult behaviour and biology has potentially limited the ability of the industry to optimally mass produce this insect. The motive of this review is to provide a foundation that can serve as a launching pad for future research on the black soldier fly, which could lead to organised results that are comparable across studies and can be used to optimise breeding-systems globally.