Hermetia illucens
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Soldier fly ( Hermetia illucens ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Hermetia illucens | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
Hermetia illucens is a Fly from the family of the soldier flies (Stratiomyidae). The species is called in connection with the breeding (as feed insect ) "black soldier fly" or simply "soldier fly", a translation of the English "black soldier fly" (abbreviated BSF ). In other contexts, this name is misleading because the Stratiomyidae family, to which the species belongs, is often called "soldier fly".
features
The flies are 14 millimeters (males) and 17 millimeters (females) long and have a slim build. The head is wider than the thorax and has nose-shaped cusps below the antennae . The antennae are as long as the thorax. Your first link is three times as long as the second. The third to ninth links form a complex spindle, but the individual links can still be recognized. The last, ribbon-shaped antenna segment is broad and hairless. The compound eyes are hairless, the short palps one-piece. The scutellum is thornless. In the long, slender wings, the wing vein rm is oblique, r2 + 3 lies distal from it, there are three m-branches, where m2 and m3 converge distally. The genitals are small and hidden in both sexes. The laying tube of the females is mostly retracted.
Occurrence and way of life
The species comes from the tropical and subtropical latitudes of America, probably from South America. Today it is spread almost worldwide as a neozoon , due to the displacement by humans . An important reason for this is the breeding of the larvae as food animals or for the treatment of waste, from which flies can escape again and again, which can easily establish themselves due to their ecological modesty. The first European evidence from 1926 comes from the island of Malta. After the Second World War it was already widespread in the west of the Mediterranean region. Later it began to spread to the east. The distribution to the north was slower due to the species’s high need for warmth. It has been recorded in north-west France since 1986 and in Switzerland since 1989. In 2010 it reached its northernmost occurrence in the extreme south of Germany ( Grenzach-Wyhlen ). Since 2013, an occurrence even further north, in the northeast of the Czech Republic (from Bohumín near the border with Poland) has become known. The larvae feed saprophag on putrefactive vegetable matter and animal waste.
use
Hermetia illucens larvae are used as feed insects in livestock farming, primarily in aquaculture , for which they have been approved as feed throughout the EU since 2017. In addition, it is intended to be used as animal feed in farm animal husbandry. Soldier flies have a live weight of around one kilo if less than two kilos of feed are added. This roughly corresponds to the feed balance of chickens. Whereby these show a difference between the live weight and the slaughter weight .
The high protein and fat content and the soft consistency of the larvae of the soldier flies make them interesting as a substitute for fish meal and fish oil , the production of which is stagnating due to declining catches and subsequent legal restrictions, which leads to price increases. After feeding tests, the larvae are better suited as fish food than possible substitute products based on plants. After appropriate preliminary tests, it can also be used in poultry production. Compared to other insect larvae, favorable properties are the longer life cycle (a good three weeks, compared to five days for house flies) and the higher final weight that can be achieved, as well as the fact that the maggots leave the food substrate to pupate, which makes harvesting easier. The fact that the adult animals no longer consume any food is seen as a plus, because it makes breeding easier. In poultry production, they could be fed by the production waste themselves, which would lead to partially closed nutrient cycles. Unfavorable properties are the fatty acid profile with a lot of saturated fatty acids, which also influence the profile of the end product; a high proportion of saturated fatty acids in the diet is nutritionally potentially harmful. There are also hygienic concerns about using waste as a breeding base. In addition, they are of interest due to their diet of organic waste of all kinds, since they are both cheap to produce and could also make a contribution to waste recycling. However, since they are legally regarded as livestock, they are not allowed to receive feed made from ruminant proteins, kitchen and edible waste, meat and bone meal and manure.
A possible use of the larvae of the black soldier fly as food insect was examined, but so far hardly went beyond preliminary tests. Traditional use as food has only been proven worldwide for one people, the Kadazan Dusun in Sabah (Malaysia, East Asia). It is also falling here and is associated with poverty and backwardness by the younger population. Problems with its use in human nutrition are the diet from waste, which is problematic for the image in marketing, and the unfavorable fatty acid profile. The soldier fly larvae are soft and therefore do not resemble meat products in consistency, but rather fatty oils. An unpleasant odor is reported, while the taste properties are rated differently, but at least some are rated as acceptable. As a result of the problems mentioned, overall use in animal breeding appears far more likely than for human consumption. It is also only considered by the FAO as a possible alternative in extremely unfavorable nutritional scenarios for mankind.
literature
- Joachim Haupt, Hiroko Haupt: Flies and Mosquitoes. Observation, way of life . 1st edition. Naturbuch-Verlag, Jena and Stuttgart 1995, ISBN 3-89440-278-4 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jindřich Roháček & Martin Hora (2013): A northernmost European record of the alien black soldier fly Hermetia illucens (Linnaeus, 1758) (Diptera: Stratiomyidae). Casopis Slezského Zemského Muzea (A) 62: 101-106.
- ↑ a b Regulation (EU) 2017/893 of the Commission of May 24, 2017 amending Annexes I and IV of Regulation (EC) No. 999/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Annexes X, XIV and XV of the Regulation (EU) No. 142/2011 of the Commission regarding the provisions on processed animal protein , on eur-lex.europa.eu, accessed on February 18, 2019.
- ↑ a b Jantje Hannover: The food of the future from the city. Deutschlandradio, October 21, 2019, accessed on October 23, 2019 .
- ↑ Ingrid Simon, Josef Stegemann: New chicken lines in focus: Chicken origins in comparison 2007. Agricultural Center Haus Düsse of the Chamber of Agriculture of North Rhine-Westphalia, 2007, p. 8ff , accessed on October 23, 2019 .
- ↑ a b Yu-Shiang Wang and Matan Shelomi (2017): Review of Black Soldier Fly (Hermetia illucens) as Animal Feed and Human Food. Foods 2017, 6 (10), 91; doi: 10.3390 / foods6100091 .