Stages of Waxworms

Egg

• A female waxworm moth can lay as many as 1600 eggs. If she is in the wild, she typically lays the tiny white eggs in a beehive, but her willingness to lay eggs in a prepared culture have made waxworms an ideal subject for classroom studies of metamorphosis and the Lepidoptera life cycle. Once laid, the eggs hatch within four to five days.

Larva

• Waxworm larvae are about an inch long. They are fat, soft, pale-colored worms with thirteen segments, and they are covered with stiff hairs or bristles. They have the six legs characteristic of insects, and in addition have four pairs of prolegs. Prolegs are leg-like structures that, on the waxworm larva, are located on the third, fourth, fifth and sixth abdominal segments. The larva does not have lungs and breathes through spiracles, a series of openings on its side. Like most caterpillars, waxworm larvae spend their lives eating and growing. They actually pass through seven growth stages called instars between the time they hatch and the time they spin a cocoon and pupate, with the greatest growth occurring in the last two instars. If kept in temperatures similar to that of a beehive, around 85 degrees F, after four to six weeks the larva will start to spin a cocoon where it will enter the pupa stage.

Pupa

• When a waxworm larva is ready to pupate, it spins a cocoon where the pupa forms. Hidden from view inside the silk, the soft, white larva becomes a hard, brown pupa that will metamorphose into the adult waxworm moth within one to two weeks.

Adult

• The life of adult waxworm moths is short and simple. They neither eat nor drink as adults, but spend their lives seeking a mate. Once they have mated, the female lays her eggs and dies. Under the right conditions of temperature and humidity, the entire life cycle can be as short as 6 weeks.