Life Cycle of Meal Worm

Technically, a meal worm is not a worm but the larval stage of the darkling beetle, also known as the yellow mealworm beetle. The beetle has a 1-year llife span.

  1. Fun Fact

    • The meal worm, though technically a beetle, eats grains (or meal). This is where it gets its name.

    Egg Stage

    • Meal worms start out as extremely small eggs that are white in color but may have a yellow or cream tint to them.

    Larval Stage

    • During this stage, a meal worm consumes grains and sheds its skin (known as molting) many times before the next stage.

    Pupal Stage

    • In a meal worm's third stage, it's white and similar in shape and appearance to a butterfly pupa. This stage can last as long as nine months.

    Adult Stage

    • The adult beetle emerges from the pupa. A this point, the adult begins producing new eggs, thus the meal worm life cycle comes full circle.