Sex-Specific Perching: Monitoring of Artificial Plants Reveals Dynamic Female-Biased Perching Behavior in the Black Soldier Fly, <i>Hermetia illucens</i> (Diptera: Stratiomyidae)

Abstract

Artificial perches are implemented by many companies that mass-rear the black soldier fly (BSF), to emulate a natural breeding environment or provide additional surface area for flies to rest; however, basic information about perching behavior is lacking. This experiment tested the effect of adding 0.00, 0.04, 0.26, or 0.34 m2 of surface area to 0.93 m3 cages, each supplied with 90 male and 90 female adults. Female thoraxes marked with acrylic paint, and the number of perching flies of each sex were recorded over 6 d. A time-series analysis revealed the following: (a) females utilized perches 1.42 times more often than males across two trials; (b) especially in the morning where the difference could be as high as 2.56 times as great; (c) this decreased to 0.20–1.57 times more females than males by 1600 h; and (d) this cyclical pattern repeated each day throughout the week with a decreasing female-bias, starting from 2.41-times more females on day 1, which fell to 0.88–1.98-times more females than males on day 6. These dynamics are likely due to the presence of male flies engaging in aerial contests near ultraviolet lamps required for mating, especially during the early hours and early adulthood, aligning with and expanding prior knowledge of black soldier fly mating behavior.

Keywords

• reproduction
• breeding
• cage design
• habitat
• energy
• mass-rearing