Abstract: The invention is directed to water-dispersible, substantially homogeneous artificial diets and diet formulations which provide honey bees with a fully nutritious, complex mixture of proteins, carbohydrates, fats, minerals, and vitamins in an easily digestible form. The diets of the invention support growth and development of honey bees, sustain brood rearing, and maintain hive vigor, and thus make possible the continuous rearing of bees using an artificial diet. The invention diets are useful for many purposes, and are particularly advantageous for providing nutrition sources for bees that are moved during commercial crop pollination or for other migratory beekeeping uses.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to an improved system for the packaging, presentation, and delivery of a semi-solid arthropod diet, for the feeding or oviposition of arthropods. The arthropod diet delivery system of the invention has a diet-filled reservoir covered with a stretchable membrane, wherein the reservoir membrane has a plurality of stretched, thinned outwardly projecting areas thereon (feeding protrusions) which are filled with the semi-solid diet. The interior of a protrusion is in fluid communication with the diet-filled reservoir. The arthropod diet delivery system may optionally further include stretched, thinned inwardly projecting areas in the stretchable reservoir membrane (intrusions), which are particularly advantageous as oviposition sites for certain arthropods. The invention is also directed to methods of making the arthropod diet delivery system wherein the protrusions are substantially simultaneously created and filled with diet.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to an improved system for the packaging, presentation, and delivery of a semi-solid arthropod diet, for the feeding or oviposition of arthropods. The arthropod diet delivery system of the invention has a diet-filled reservoir covered with a stretchable membrane, wherein the reservoir membrane has a plurality of stretched, thinned outwardly projecting areas thereon (feeding protrusions) which are filled with the semi-solid diet. The interior of a protrusion is in fluid communication with the diet-filled reservoir. The arthropod diet delivery system may optionally further include stretched, thinned inwardly projecting areas in the stretchable reservoir membrane (intrusions), which are particularly advantageous as oviposition sites for certain arthropods. The invention is also directed to methods of making the arthropod diet delivery system wherein the protrusions are substantially simultaneously created and filled with diet.

Abstract: Improved artificial diets or growth media are described which are suitable for rearing large numbers of viable and biologically fit arthropods, including zoophagous arthropods and phytophagous arthropods, including facultatively zoophagous arthropods. In a first embodiment, the growth medium is composed of a mixture of cooked egg, liquid, and carbohydrate source. In a second embodiment, the growth medium is composed of a plant-based phytophage diet which includes cooked egg yolk or cooked whole egg. In a third embodiment, the growth medium is composed of a mixture of cooked egg, liquid, and carbohydrate source in admixture with a plant-based phytophage diet which includes cooked egg yolk or cooked whole egg. The growth media are devoid of meat products or insect components and are suitable for mass production of arthropods at a reasonable cost for use in biological control programs or other biologically based technologies.

Abstract: Improved artificial diets or growth media are described which are suitable for rearing large numbers of viable and biologically fit arthropods, including zoophagous arthropods and phytophagous arthropods, including facultatively zoophagous arthropods. In a first embodiment, the growth medium is composed of a mixture of cooked egg, liquid, and carbohydrate source. In a second embodiment, the growth medium is composed of a plant-based phytophage diet which includes cooked egg yolk or cooked whole egg. In a third embodiment, the growth medium is composed of a mixture of cooked egg, liquid, and carbohydrate source in admixture with a plant-based phytophage diet which includes cooked egg yolk or cooked whole egg. The growth media are devoid of meat products or insect components and are suitable for mass production of arthropods at a reasonable cost for use in biological control programs or other biologically based technologies.

Abstract: Improved artificial diets or growth media are described which are suitable for rearing large numbers of viable and biologically fit arthropods, including zoophagous arthropods and phytophagous arthropods, including facultatively zoophagous arthropods. In a first embodiment, the growth medium is composed of a mixture of cooked egg, liquid, and carbohydrate source. In a second embodiment, the growth medium is composed of a plant-based phytophage diet which includes cooked egg yolk or cooked whole egg. In a third embodiment, the growth medium is composed of a mixture of cooked egg, liquid, and carbohydrate source in admixture with a plant-based phytophage diet which includes cooked egg yolk or cooked whole egg. The growth media are devoid of meat products or insect components and are suitable for mass production of arthropods at a reasonable cost for use in biological control programs or other biologically based technologies.

Abstract: An improved artificial diet or growth medium for rearing entomophages (predatory arthropods and parasitic insects). The diet also finds use as a bait and feeding stimulant for entomophages, and as use as a supplement for artificial diets for phytophagous pests that also display some insect consumption. The growth medium is composed of a mixture of (a) an adherent, fibrous retention substrate, (b) a protein-lipid paste, and (c) a liquid, and provides nutrients in a stabilized form in amounts and proportions effective to support growth of entomophages. An exemplary formulation is a mixture of adherent, fibrous cooked whole egg, ground beef and beef liver protein-lipid paste, and water. The growth medium is suitable for mass production of entomophages at a reasonable cost for use as biological control agents, and is well suited for rearing entomophages that feed by the process of extra-oral digestion.

Abstract: An improved artificial diet or growth medium for rearing entomophages (predatory arthropods and parasitic insects). The growth medium is composed of a mixture of (a) an adherent, fibrous retention substrate, (b) a protein-lipid paste, and (c) a liquid, and provides nutrients in a stabilized form in amounts and proportions effective to support growth of entomophages. An exemplary formulation is a mixture of adherent, fibrous cooked whole egg, ground beef and beef liver protein-lipid paste, and water. The growth medium is suitable for mass production of entomophages at a reasonable cost for use as biological control agents, and is well suited for rearing entomophages that feed by the process of extra-oral digestion.