Nutrition and culture of entomophagous insects

This article reviews the current state of knowledge concerning the nutritio n of entomophagous insects and other arthropods. Early nutritional investig ations focused principally on the basic dietary and nutritional requirement s for beneficial insects. Based on these findings, the first attempts were made to develop mass culture methods and to formulate artificial diets that would allow rearing of parasitoids and predators in the absence of host or prey, as well as the latter's food sources. Although limited success was a chieved, these studies established the nutritional foundation for later adv ances. Recently, attention has focused on the interaction between nutrition , physiology, behavior, and ecology of the different life stages of entomop hagous species within a unified concept of nutritional ecology. This approa ch has resulted in more comprehensive understanding of nutrition, which in turn has facilitated the continuous artificial culture of several parasites and predators. Additional studies have confirmed the importance of supplem ental feeding of the adult stages of beneficial insects for maximizing repr oduction and longevity. Applications of nutritional ecology to biological c ontrol are discussed.