About My Experiment With Worm Named Zophobas Morio

Zophobas morio is the scientific name for super worms. The stage Z. morio go through is called metamorphosis, they go from an egg to a darkling beetle. My hypothesis stated that the Z. morio would choose the bananas over the coffee beans. During the experiment, I placed six mealworms in a clear plastic container. One side had coffee beans and the other side had slices of bananas. There were three trials in my experiment, my first two trials were the same results. It was an even split. During my third trial, four went to the coffee bean side, two went to the banana side. When we placed the Z. morio in the ring, it seemed like whatever direction they were facing they crawled towards. As a result, my hypothesis was incorrect according to the average I calculated.

The scientific name for super worms/king worms is Zophobas Morio. They originated from South and Central America. You can find them in pet stores, where they are popular foods for different reptiles, amphibians, birds and other animals. Z. Morio goes through a stage called metamorphosis, after metamorphosis, they become darling beetles. On average, they can grow up to two inches or more. If they are left without any food by them in a small area, Z. Morio can turn cannibalistic. There are over 19,000 species of the darkling beetles today. When females are ready to lay their eggs, they find any rotting carcasses, soil, decaying plants, and other places to place them. Their first stage in life begins as an egg, where the females lay the egg, then leave the egg to be on its own. When the egg is ready to hatch, they turn into larvae. Their final stage after a larvae is becoming the beetle. This experiment intended to detect if Zophobas Morio would instead select coffee beans or banana slices. In my project, my hypothesis stated that the Z. Morio would favor the bananas over the coffee beans.

I chose the bananas over the coffee beans because of the texture. Materials and Methods: My first step in the experiment was preparing what we were going to put the Super Worms in. The clear plastic container I used was purchased from Walmart in Kearney, Nebraska. The bottom of the container was filled with a cup of 100% whole grain Great Value oats that was purchased from Walmart. Next, we placed Camerons Mountain gold roast coffee beans in a straight line on one side. On the other side of the container, we put four slices of bananas. The slices weighted out to be 8.1 grams, 5.0 grams, 4.6 grams, and 4.3 grams. The coffee beans weighed 1.5 grams. The bananas were purchased from Walmart, and the coffee beans were purchased from Hy-Vee, both in Kearney, Nebraska. When we started the experiment, we place an orange ring that was made of construction paper and tape in the middle of the container. The ring helped ensure the Zophobas morio in place. The Z. morio was purchased in Burlington, North Carolina from Carolina Biological Supply. In the experiment, we selected randomly six Z. morio and placed them in the ring. My lab group and I did three trails that were two minutes long. At the end of each trial, we kept track of all the mealworms and recorded what side they ended up on. Each trial we put back the six mealworms and got new ones.

During the experiment, we conducted three trails. It seemed that the mealworms would crawl underneath the oats and go to the side of the containers. All the trials we did had similar results but the last one. During the first trial, we observed six Zophobas morio crawl under the oats. It was an even split, three went to the coffee beans, and the other three went to the banana slices. The next trial was the same results.

The Z. morio was evenly split. Three of them were on the coffee bean side, and three were by the banana slices. During the second trial, the Z. morio seemed to crawl to the corners instead of under the oats. During the last trial, we had an uneven number. After the two minutes passed, four Z. morio were on the coffee bean side, and two were on the banana slices. The average was 33% went to the coffee beans, and 26% went to the banana slices. Figure 1: Preference of Zophobas morio Discussion: In my experiment, my hypothesis to be tested was that the Zophobas morio would favor the bananas over the coffee beans because the texture of the banana was softer than the coffee beans.

My hypothesis was wrong, the Z. morio preferred the coffee beans over the banana slices. What may have caused the results is how the Z. morio was placed, it seemed like what direction they were facing they went to and reusing the same banana slice and coffee beans each trial. What I learned about this experiment is If I could change my experiment, I would have used more mealworms and had longer trails. By having more mealworms and time, it could have made my data significantly different instead of each trial being similar.