M. Vikaash, K. Nishanthini, Mohammad Ikram, A. Yogapriya and R. Kanagarajan
Abstract
The greater wax moth, Galleria mellonella (L.) is widely reared on artificial diets for its use as a model organism in immunological and toxicological research. However, the biological consequences of replacing its natural food source, waste honeybee comb, with simplified artificial formulations remain poorly understood. This study aimed to quantify the effects of different diets on the life-history traits and reproductive fitness of G. mellonella. The results showed that larvae reared on the comb-fortified artificial diet (AD-2) exhibited the shortest developmental period (29.1 days) and the highest pupal weight (218.3 mg), closely comparable to those reared on the natural diet (30.5 days and 210.6 mg). Moreover, AD-2 females produced the greatest fecundity (965.2 eggs per female), exceeding both the natural and baseline artificial diets. These findings demonstrate that while basic artificial diets can sustain G. mellonella, they are nutritionally suboptimal. Fortifying artificial diets with natural comb components yields insects of superior biological quality and is recommended for standardizing rearing protocols to improve physiological health and experimental reliability in G. mellonella research.