WAlphitobius diaperinus is a species of beetle in the family Tenebrionidae, the darkling beetles. It is known commonly as the lesser mealworm and the litter beetle. It has a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring nearly worldwide. It is known widely as a pest insect of stored food grain products such as flour, and of poultry-rearing facilities. It is a vector of many kinds of animal pathogens.
WEntomophagy describes a feeding behaviour that includes insects. Aside from non-human creatures, the term can also refer to the practice of eating insects among humans.
WGryllus assimilis, commonly known as the Jamaican field cricket and sometimes referred to as the silent cricket among other names, is one of many cricket species known as a field cricket. Its natural habitats are the West Indies and parts of the southern United States, Mexico, and South America, though as a result of widespread breeding programs to supply feeder insects to the pet industry since 2010, it has become available commercially throughout North America and Europe.
WHermetia illucens, the black soldier fly, is a common and widespread fly of the family Stratiomyidae.
WAcheta domesticus, commonly called the house cricket, is a cricket most likely native to Southwestern Asia, but between 1950 and 2000 it became the standard feeder insect for the pet and research industries and spread worldwide. They can be kept as pets themselves, as this has been the case in China and Japan.
WThe housefly is a fly of the suborder Cyclorrhapha. It is believed to have evolved in the Cenozoic Era, possibly in the Middle East, and has spread all over the world as a commensal of humans. It is the most common fly species found in houses. Adults are gray to black, with four dark, longitudinal lines on the thorax, slightly hairy bodies, and a single pair of membranous wings. They have red eyes, set farther apart in the slightly larger female.
WLive food is living food for carnivorous or omnivorous animals kept in captivity; in other words, small animals such as insects or mice fed to larger carnivorous or omnivorous species kept either in a zoo or as a pet.
WMealworms are the larval form of the mealworm beetle, Tenebrio molitor, a species of darkling beetle. Like all holometabolic insects, they go through four life stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. Larvae typically measure about 2.5 cm or more, whereas adults are generally between 1.25 and 1.8 cm in length.
WZophobas morio is a species of darkling beetle, whose larvae are known by the common name Superworms, King Worms, Morio Worms or simply Zophobas. Superworms are common in the reptile pet industry as food, not to be confused with giant mealworms, which are Tenebrio molitor larvae sprayed with juvenile hormone.