Biology of Farmed Insects

Dear Colleagues, 

Large-scale insect farming is a relatively new but rapidly growing sector. Insects are primarily farmed as a source of high-quality proteins for human food and animal feed. In addition, they also produce fats, frass, chitin, and other valuable by-products. In terms of production volumes, the current champion of the sector is the black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens). Other farmed insects include several species of crickets, mealworms, and locusts, as well as several emerging insect species with the potential for mass rearing.

Insect farming is an important tool to improve agriculture and food production sustainability and circularity. At the same time, however, it raises concerns regarding animal welfare, disease transmission, and the potential introduction of non-native species into the environment.

Research interest in farmed insects has increased significantly, but research is mostly applied and focused on the practicalities of insect farming. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that a better understanding of these organisms’ biology is essential to recognize their requirements, improve farming practices, and tackle potential ethical issues of insect farming.

This Special Issue aims to gather original research and review papers dealing with the basic biology of farmed insects. We invite studies of genetics and genomics, diversity, microbiome, diseases and parasites, physiology, behavior, and all other aspects of farmed insect biology. Research on understudied or novel insect species with the potential for mass rearing is also welcome.

Dr. Matija Harcet
Dr. Juan A. Morales-Ramos
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Insects is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• insect farming
• black soldier fly
• Hermetia illucens
• crickets
• Acheta domesticus
• Gryllus spp.
• Gryllodes sigillatus
• mealworms
• Tenebrionidae
• locust Locusta migratoria
• ethics
• insect biology