I'm using wax moth larvae for some soil baiting experiment, and I'm not sure why some larvae seem to "forget" to moult one last time, and die in failing to pupate, stuck in hardening exoskeleton. Apart from a paper reporting that cooling larvae lead some to fail to pupate, I can't find any information on the subject. As I'm looking at mortality rate in soils and more larvae seem to fail to pupate in the sterile control, I'd like more information.
Thank you very much,
Celine
Dear Celine,
Here in our laboratory, I am culturing G. mellonella from last four year and culture is maintained. This is one of the insects which can maintain very easily in the lab.Sometime due to low temperature, pupation may take longer time. and some time low humidity may also create the problem. Try to maintain the temperature a and humidity (26-30 degree RH 60-80) and you may get the bumper population. Your diet for larvae should be good and sterilize container are always used for culturing. If you have a very old maintained culture and you are rearing it then you should try to collect fresh culture from field as suggested by Donato Romano.
All the Best
Dear Celine,
I think you must make soil analysis for heavy metals as its known that they increase insect mortality and cause many other effects. You must also measure the amount of heavy metals in the insect body. Please find the attached files
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