A Mealworm’s Life

Have you ever wondered how some of nature’s smallest creatures spend their days? Here’s your chance to take a scientifically accurate peek into the life of a mealworm, (Tenebrio molitar), beginning with egg-laying. Striking illustrations and a lively storyline capture the real life challenges of the mealworm. Perfect to read to young children.

Many teachers keep mealworms in their classrooms. They are easy to raise, and children enjoy watching them grow and change. Mealworms eat all kinds of grains, so you might find them in flour, chicken feed, or breakfast cereal.
As a mealworm grows, it may shed its hard exoskeleton as many as twenty times. When it becomes a pupa, it cannot move. For about two weeks, all kinds of changes happen inside the hard case that encloses the pupa. Then an adult beetle emerges.

At first, the beetle is very pale, but it soon grows darker. Some people call mealworm beetles “darkling beetles”. They eat the same kinds of food as the young mealworms, so you may see them together. Some people think that mealworm beetles cannot fly, but they can – especially when attracted to a light.

Mealworm beetles prefer dark, humid places and often live in the food they eat.