Wax Worm/P. larvae LD50

From 2-25-15.

Five days after wax worm exposure to spores. The only wax worms in the P. larvae spore groups that have died so far were on Day 1 and it was very apparent that those wax worms either drown in the added diet or were killed during the transfer to the smaller container (crushed bodies). There was wax worm that also died on Day 1 in the B. thur group as well and it was also very obviously due to handling errors during transfer. A table of the survival of each treatment group will be posted at the end of seven days.

Currently, the majority of the wax worms in the P. larvae groups appear to be in good health with white/cream colors, very active when prodded, and also have visibly grown in size after the last five days. It is evident that the wax worms have been eating the wax pellets since there are now much smaller wax pellets present in the containers. I assume this indicates that the wax had been ingested and processed by the wax worms. This is good, since the spores were mixed with the wax pellets initially. Interestingly, the majority of the wax worms have created some sort of make-shift cocoon using the wax pellets and the digested wax pellets. As evident by the images below. When the wax was removed from the tops of the wax worms they appeared to be in good health still with no visible signs of illness. All the wax pellets were initially in the center of the plate, they have since all made their way to the sides of the plate.

Healthy WW, can see digested wax pellets as well, the wax that was added was in the sphere shapes (also seen)

I have been observing increased deaths in the B. thur groups (1:5 and 1:25 dilutions). The wax worms in these treatment groups have not increased in size as much as the wax worms in the P. larvae treatment groups, nor are they as brightly colored (they are more grey/black) or as lively. One of the wax worms in the 1:5 group turned completely black and has begun to liquify.

It should be noted that there was a higher spore concentration in the B. thur groups that was fed to the wax worms than in the P. larvae groups:

The 1:5 B. thur group = 2x10^7 spores

The 1:5 P. larvae group = 2x10^3 spores

I will continue to monitor the survival of the wax worms in each of the groups as well as investigate ways to increase the spore yield from P. larvae. The increased death in the B. thur groups compared to the P. larvae groups is likely related to the amounts of spores that were being fed to the wax worms. I simply do not have a high enough P. larvae spore concentration to caused death in the wax worms at this time.

//EWW