Meal Worm Exploration

The mealworm undergoes complete metamorphosis. The female darkling beetle lays hundreds of tiny, white, oval eggs.   Once laid, it takes from 4 to 19 days to hatch.  Once hatched, the mealworm (the larval stage) will eat a tremendous amount and grow a lot, molting (shedding its exoskeleton) many times as it grows.  The larval stage lasts approximately 6-9 months. It then enters the pupal stage (this stage lasts from 2-3 weeks up to 9 months, depending on the time of year). The pupa does not eat and seems inactive, but it is transforming itself into an adult. After pupating, a white adult darkwing beetle emerges from the pupa, but soon turns brown and and then almost black. The adult lives for 2-3 months. The entire life cycle takes about a year.