Science practice 125

Tenebrio molitor is an arthropod insect which, like 90% of all insects, undergoes the process of complete metamorphosis, meaning that it passes through four life stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. In the larval stage, the insect is commonly known as a mealworm; as a full adult it is a darkling beetle. Figure 1 shows the four stages of the T. molitor life cycle (x-axis), as well as data for minimum and maximum days spent in each stage of metamorphosis (y-axis) for T. molitor that were raised by students in a lab.

Figure 1

Table 1 includes data recorded for four different colonies of T. molitor raised by students in a lab, including the type of food each colony was given, beginning larval length, duration of time in larval and pupal stages, and final adult length. It was decided that the colonies would be given only one type of food source: either a fruit, a vegetable, or one of two whole grains. Apple was chosen as the fruit, carrot for the vegetable, and oats and wheat for the two whole grains.