• Proceedings of the Korean Environmental Sciences Society Conference
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• 2020.10a
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• pp.208-208
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• 2020

The aim of this study was to investigate changes in the weight of Zophobas morio larvae and mass of polystyrene foam when the larvae were fed polystyrene for 27 days. Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometry was used to determine whether the polystyrene was broken down by the larvae. Forty Z. morio larvae (four replicates with 10 larvae per replicate) were reared in a chamber under controlled conditions with polystyrene foam blocks as their sole diet. The weight of the Z. morio larvae and mass of the polystyrene foam decreased as a function of time. The average weight of the larvae and mass of the polystyrene foam blocks decreased by 16.3 and 6.5%, respectively, over the 27-day period. The FTIR spectrum of Z. morio larvae fed with polystyrene foam did not reveal the unique peaks associated with polystyrene. In conclusion, this study suggests the possibility of using Z. morio larvae as a management technology for degrading waste plastics without a negative environmental effect. Key words : FTIR spectra, plastic biodegradation, polystyrene foam, Zophobas morio larvae.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.58 no.3
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• pp.219-224
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• 2019

The super mealworm, Zophobas morio, is mainly used as food for pets, fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds, and as snacks. An experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of temperature, supplementary feeding, and spawning interval on super mealworm rearing. To efficiently rear this species, the insects were bred at a temperature of $27^{\circ}C$ or higher and reached a weight of over 0.6 g at 80 days after hatching. Supplementary feed (with high protein content: 10% of soybean meal and 10% of fish meal) enabled larvae to reach a weight of over 0.7 g at 80 days after hatching. Mass rearing of super mealworm requires increase in egg production (i.e., high yield) and uniformity of larvae. Adults were transferred to spawning bases every 5, 10, or 15 days (three treatments), which resulted in a total of 7,256, 5,439, 2,060 hatched larvae, respectively. It is possible to obtain more than 7,000 larvae by transferring the egg-laying frame to the spawning base at intervals of 5 days and with nine spawning operations; this procedure generates larvae weighing over 0.68 g each.

• Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.185-190
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• 2013

The superworm, as known the larva of Zophobas morio, has been officially imported from 2011 and bred commercially in Korea. But it is named as the corrected scientific name, Zophobas atratus by junior synonym throughout traditional taxonomy in this study and newly designated Korean name as 'a-me-ri-ca-wang-geo-jeo-ri' in terms of resource management. Z. atratus was compared with wild native tenebrionids, Promethis valgipes and a commercial reared Tenebrio molitor on the basis of DNA barcode analysis. As the results, the average genetic divergence was 21.4% between Z. atratus and P. valgipes, and 20.9% between Z. atratus and T. molitor. These large divergences imply these tenebrionids species can be easily identified by DNA barcodes. The results of genetic divergences within species also suggest that Korean populations of Z. atratus, having the same haplotype, might be introduced from the same area of foreign country. On the other hand, a population of T. molitor was separated into two distinct intra-specific groups with DNA barcoding gaps ranged from 1.17- 2.19%. We suppose that domestic breeding entities of T. molitor might be introduced and mixed from two different local groups. Through this study, we expect that classification for two tenebrionid introduced from foreign countries can be used for the management of insect resources in Korea.