The worldwide growing consumption of proteins to feed humans and animals has drawn a considerable amount of attention to insect rearing. Insects reared on organic wastes and used as feed for monogastric animals can reduce the environmental impact and increase the sustainability of meat/fish production. In this study, we designed an environmentally closed loop for food supply in which fruit and vegetable waste from markets became rearing substrate for Hermetia illucens (BSF— black soldier fly). A vegetable and fruit-based substrate was compared to a standard diet for Diptera in terms of larval growth, waste reduction index, and overall substrate degradation. Morphological analysis of insect organs was carried out to obtain indications about insect health. Processing steps such as drying and oil extraction from BSF were investigated. Nutritional and microbiological analyses confirmed the good quality of insects and meal. The meal was then used to produce fish feed and its suitability to this purpose was assessed using trout. Earthworms were grown on leftovers of BSF rearing in comparison to a standard substrate. Chemical analyses of vermicompost were performed. The present research demonstrates that insects can be used to reduce organic waste, increasing at the same time the sustainability of aquaculture and creating interesting by-products through the linked bio-system establishment.

An artificial diet containing 2% L-ascorbic acid was given to silkworm (Bombyx mori) larvae throughout larval life, or only in some larval instars in order to make a comparison of larvae fed on a diet without L-ascorbic acid throughout larval life. Obtained results show that, when complete L-ascorbic acid deprivation is done during the larval cycle, it affects larval growth and cocoon production. Furthermore, L-ascorbic acid absence from larval food, particularly during the first and last instars, generates beneficial effects to cocoon production without affecting the survival rate or delaying the larval cycle.

With approximately 160,000 identified species of butterflies and moths, Lepidoptera are among the most species-rich and diverse insect orders. Lepidopteran insects have fundamental ecosystem functions as pollinators and valuable food sources for countless animals. Furthermore, Lepidoptera have a significant impact on the economy and global food security because many species in their larval stage are harmful pests of staple food crops. Moreover, domesticated species such as the silkworm Bombyx mori produce silk and silk byproducts that are utilized by the luxury textile, biomedical, and cosmetics sectors. Several Lepidoptera have been fundamental as model organisms for basic biological research, from formal genetics to evolutionary studies. Regarding chronobiology, in the 1970s, Truman’s seminal transplantation experiments on different lepidopteran species were the first to show that the circadian clock resides in the brain. With the implementation of molecular genetics, subsequent studies identified key differences in core components of the molecular circadian clock of Lepidoptera compared to the dipteran Drosophila melanogaster, the dominant insect species in chronobiological research. More recently, studies on the butterfly Danaus plexippus have been fundamental in characterizing the interplay between the circadian clock and navigation during the seasonal migration of this species. Moreover, the advent of Next Generation Omic technologies has resulted in the production of many publicly available datasets regarding circadian clocks in pest and beneficial Lepidoptera. This review presents an updated overview of the molecular and anatomical organization of the circadian clock in Lepidoptera. We report different behavioral circadian rhythms currently identified, focusing on the importance of the circadian clock in controlling developmental, mating and migration phenotypes. We then describe the ecological importance of circadian clocks detailing the complex interplay between the feeding behavior of these organisms and plants. Finally, we discuss how the characterization of these features could be useful in both pest control, and in optimizing rearing of beneficial Lepidoptera.

The lepidopteran Bombyx mori is an insect of considerable scientific and economic importance. Recently, the B. mori circadian clock gene period has been molecularly characterized. We have transformed a B. mori strain with a construct encoding a period double-strand RNA in order to knock-down period gene expression. We observe that this post-transcriptional silencing produces a small but detectable disruption in the egg-hatching rhythm, as well as a reduction in egg-to-adult developmental time, without altering silk production parameters. Thus we show that both circadian and non-circadian phenotypes can be altered by changing per expression, and, at a practical level, these results suggest that per knock-down may provide a suitable strategy for improving the efficiency of rearing, without affecting silk productivity.

Glycopeptide antibiotics (GPAs) are drugs of last resort for treating infections by Gram-positive bacteria. They inhibit bacterial cell wall assembly by binding to the d-Ala-d-Ala terminus of peptidoglycan precursors, leading to cell lysis. Vancomycin and teicoplanin are first generation GPAs, while dalbavancin is one of the few, recently approved, second generation GPAs. In this paper, we developed an in vivo insect model to compare, for the first time, the efficacy of these three GPAs in curing Staphylococcus aureus infection. Differently from previous reports, Bombyx mori larvae were reared at 37 °C, and the course of infection was monitored, following not only larval survival, but also bacterial load in the insect body, hemocyte activity, phenoloxidase activity, and antimicrobial peptide expression. We demonstrated that the injection of S. aureus into the hemolymph of B. mori larvae led to a marked reduction of their survival rate within 24–48 h. GPAs were not toxic to the larvae and cured S. aureus infection. Dalbavancin was more effective than first generation GPAs. Due to its great advantages (i.e., easy and safe handling, low rearing costs, low antibiotic amount needed for the tests, no restrictions imposed by ethical and regulatory issues), this silkworm infection model could be introduced in preclinical phases—prior to the use of mice—accelerating the discovery/development rate of novel GPAs.