https://www.feedipedia.org/node/16388
Description
The black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens Linnaeus 1758) is a fly (Diptera) of the Stratiomyidae family. The adult fly is black, wasp-like and 15-20 mm long (Hardouin et al., 2003). The larvae can reach 27 mm in length, 6 mm in width and weigh up to 220 mg in their last larval stage. They are a dull, whitish color (Diclaro et al., 2009). The larvae can feed quickly, from 25 to 500 mg of fresh matter per larva per day, and with minimal disturbance on a wide range of decaying organic materials, such as rotting fruits and vegetables, coffee bean pulp, distillers' grains, fish offal, corpses (they are used for forensic purposes), and particularly animal manure and human excreta (van Huis et al., 2013; Diener et al., 2011; Hardouin et al., 2003). In ideal conditions, larvae become mature in 2 months, but the larval stage can last up to 4 months when not enough feed is available. At the end of the larval stage (prepupa), the larva empties its digestive tract and stops feeding and moving (Hardouin et al., 2003). The prepupae then migrate in search of a dry and protected pupation site (Diener et al., 2011). The duration of the pupal stage is about 14 days but can be extremely variable and last up to 5 months (Hardouin et al., 2003). The females mate two days after emerging and oviposit into dry cracks and crevices adjacent to a feed source (Diener et al., 2011). The adults do not feed and rely on the fats stored from the larval stage (Diclaro et al., 2009).