Flower chafers (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Cetoniinae) are globally distributed, comprising approximately 4,000 described species. They primarily feed on nectar and sap of deciduous trees. The larvae exhibit the unique characteristic of crawling on their backs, distinguishing them from other scarabs. Additionally, the majority of flower chafers fly with their elytra closed, unlike other scarabs that fly with fully opened wings. Šípek et al. (2016) conducted the first molecular phylogenetic study to investigate their phylogenetic relationships and characters of elytra related to the flight mode. Building upon this study, we infer the diversification times and rates of Cetoniinae and its subgroups, and reconstruct the evolutionary process of flight mode transformation. Furthermore, we discuss the current limitations and future directions of this topic.

흰점박이꽃무지 (Protaetia brevitarsis seulensis) 유충의 대체사료인 한약재 부산물 발효원인 유용미생물 (Effective microorganism, EM)과 느타리버섯 종균 (Oyster mushroom fungi, OM)을 비교하였다. 각 발효된 사료의 영양성분을 비 교한 결과, 조회분을 제외한 조단백, 조지방, 조섬유 함량이 OM 발효사료에서 높게 나타났다. 각 발효된 사료로 사육된 흰점박이꽃무지 유충의 영양성분을 비교한 결과 차이가 관찰되지 않았다. 각 발효사료별 흰점박이꽃무지 유 충의 생체중을 주별 비교 분석한 결과, 3주차 관찰시기부터 EM과 OM을 이용한 사료에서 흰점박이꽃무지 유충 평균중량이 유의하게 높았다. 유충 사육 시 생존율은 발효사료의 경우 동일하게 96.7%이나, 비발효사료의 경우 9.8%로 매우 낮았다. 본 실험결과, 흰점박이꽃무지의 생육에 먹이 원의 발효는 꼭 필요했으며, OM은 EM을 대체할 수 있는 흰점박이꽃무지 대체사료의 발효원으로 더 안정적이었다.

토양에 활용되는 유기농업자재(퇴비, 유황)가 굼벵이 생육 및 생존에 미치는 영향을 알아보기 위하여 생육시험을 수행하였다. 먹이는 참나무발효톱밥을 이용하였으며, 가축의 퇴비와 유황을 일정비율(0.3, 1, 3, 10 %) 섞어 사육하였다. 시험곤충은 흰점박이꽃무지 2령 유충을 사용하였다. 사육 시 나타나는 생장율 차이를 비교하여 흰점박이꽃무지 유충의 발육 특성을 조사하였다. 참나무발효톱밥으로만 사육한 개체에 비해 유황을 혼합한 경우, 유황의 비율이 높아질수록 생중량의 증가율이 낮아지는 것으로 나타났다. 가축퇴비(우분 40%, 돈분 10%, 계분 5%)를 배합하여 사육한 경우, 참나무발효톱밥에 10% 퇴비를 배합하였을 때, 21일 후 생중량이 평균 4.18배 증가하는 것을 확인하였다.

The objective of this study was to verify the stability of nutrient composition by using herbal medicine by-products as an alternative food source and to examine the growth effect on Protaeria brevitarsis seulensis larvae. As a result of comparing the nutritional components of food source, crude protein, crude fat, and crude ash content, except crude fiber content, was high in both non-fermented and fermented medicinal herbal by-products. Especially, crude protein content was highest. Cadmium, lead, mercury, and other heavy metals were not detected and thus stability as alternative food was confirmed. The growth comparison based on the feeding sources showed no significant difference between the fermented oak sawdust fed control group and the herbal medicine by-products fed laboratory group from week 1 to week 3. The weight of a 4 week larva was 0.137 g in the control group and 0.671 g in the laboratory group and so began to reveal differences at a significant level (p<0.05). As a result of comparing weights of Protaetia brevitarsis seulensis larvae according to the level of herbal medicine by-product addition, HMB40 recorded the heaviest weight in week 7. Statistical analysis showed that there was no significant difference in each body weights of HMB40 and HMB80 at week 5 (p<0.05). These results indicate that if the shipping date of an edible insect is a third instar larva, it arrives at the time of shipment at week 5. Thus feeding HMB40 and HMB80 at the 5th week is the most effective.

항암작용과 간 질환을 예방하는 약용곤충으로 널리 알려진 흰점박이꽃무지 유충은 2016년 12월 일반식품으로 등록되었으나 판매가가 높아 소비가 활발하게 이루어지지 않고 있어 생산 단가를 낮추는 기술이 요구되고 있는 실정이다. 흰점박이꽃무지의 생산 비용을 절감하고 생산성을 향상시키기 위해 농업부산물인 새송이버섯 수확 후 배지와 표고버섯 수확 후 배지를 유충의 먹이로 급이하여 생육특성과 미량성분, 중금속함 량을 조사하였고 대조구로는 관행으로 사용되고 있는 참나무 발효톱밥을 급이하였다. 새송이버섯 수확 후 배지를 급이한 처리구가 유충사육기간이 16.2일로 가장 짧았고 유충 무게 증가율과 고치 무게는 각각 156.3%와 4.1 g이었다. 새송이버섯 수확 후 배지를 급이한 처리구에서 용화율은 100%였고 우화율은 93.9%로 가장 높았지만 통계적 유의차는 없었다. 또한 총질소함량도 10.28%로 가장 높았고 미량원소 중 철은 145.8 mg/kg으로 다른 먹이와 비교해 높은 결과를 보였다. 성충의 산란선호성은 먹이 간 통계적 유의차가 없었다. 본 연구의 결과를 종합하였을 때 기존에 사용하고 있는 참나무 발효톱밥 대신 새송이버섯 수확 후 배지를 먹이로 사용하면 흰점박이꽃무지 유충 100 kg 당 667,960원의 비용이 감소할 것으로 추정된다.

Insects are attracting the attention of alternative sources of protein. In order to produce high quality insects, studieson the development of safe and nutritious feed sources are needed. Given the cost of rearing insects, agricultural andindustrial by-products were good materials of insect feed. In the current study, Citrus unshiu peel (CP), soybean curdcake (SCC), soybean oil meal (SOM), and brewers dried grain (BDG) were investigated for their effects on larval growthand development of Protaetia brevitarsis. Interestingly, larvae fed on 10% SCC increased their weight by 3.5 times. Forthe larval period, they were significantly shorter than the control. Furthermore, minerals and amino acids were recordedto be high in them. The heavy metals were not detected in any of the investigated groups. These findings provided ascientific basis for the utilization of soybean curd cake as a nutritional feed source to promote larval growth and producequality insects.

This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of various feeds on body length, width, and weight, and larval mortality of white-spotted flower chafer (Protaetia brevitarsis seulensis Kolbe). The feeds , aloe, apple, banana, persimmon and sweet pumpkin were tested to measure the developmental parameters. The result showed that no any significant effect of feeds on the larval weight in the early. However, as larva get matured, the effects of feeds on the developmental parameters were found significantly varied. Weight of larvae, cumulative increase on body length and width, and body weight were also found increase in case of apple feeding. Lowest increment of developmental parameters were reported in banana feeding. Highest mortality (11.2%) was occurred in aloe, banana, persimmon and sweet pumpkin feeding. Lowest mortality (9.9%) rate was observed in apple. Feeds such as apple, sweet pumpkin, and aloe can be used as a optimum diet for mass rearing of P. brevitarsis seulensis in laboratory.

The complete nucleotide sequences of the mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) from the white-spotted flower chafer, Protaetia brevitarsis (Coleoptera: Cetoniidae) was determined. The 20,319-bp long circular genome is the longest among the completely sequenced arthropods. This extraordinary length of the genome stemmed from 5,654-bp long A+T-rich region composed of twenty-eight 117-bp tandem repeats, seven 82-bp tandem repeats, and each two 19-bp and 38-bp tandem repeats. The P. brevitarsis contains a typical gene complement, order, and arrangement identical to most common type found in insects. The P. brevitarsis COI gene does not have typical ATN codon. Thus, we also designated it as AAC (asparagine), which is found in the start context of all sequenced Polyphaga within Coleoptera. All tRNAs showed stable canonical clover-leaf structure of other mt tRNAs, except for tRNASer (AGN), DHU arm of which could not form stable stem-loop structure. The 5bp-long motif sequence (TAGTA) that has been suggested to be the possible binding site for the transcription termination peptide for the major-strand also was found betweent RNASer (UCN) and ND1, as have been detected in all sequenced coleopteran insects.