Galleria mellonella

Galleria mellonella
adult
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Pyralidae
Subfamily:	Galleriinae
Tribe:	Galleriini
Genus:	Galleria Fabricius, 1798
Species:	G. mellonella
Binomial name
Galleria mellonella (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms
Numerous, see text

The greater wax moth or honeycomb moth (Galleria mellonella) is a moth of the family Pyralidae. It is the only member of the genus Galleria. It is found in most of the world, including Europe and adjacent Eurasia, its presumed native range, and as an introduced species on other continents, including North America and Australia.

Its close relative, the lesser wax moth (Achroia grisella), is also a member of tribe Galleriini of the pyralid subfamily Galleriinae. The greater wax moth is the type species of this tribe and subfamily.

Description, ecology and use by humans

Mounted, dorsal view

Mounted, ventral view

The adults' wingspan is 30–41 mm. This moth flies from May to October in the temperate parts of its range, such as Belgium and the Netherlands.

The caterpillar larvae, or waxworms, feed on the honeycomb inside bee nests and may become pests of apiculture. Less often, they are found in bumblebee and wasp nests, or feeding on dried figs. The larvae are commercially available. They can be used as food for the rearing of captive animals in terraria, such as geckos or predatory insects.

Vairimorpha ephestiae is a fungal parasite of the wax moth. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is also pathogenic to G. mellonella. The associations of virulence factors are the same for plant and animal infections.

When fried in oil, the larvae explode and take on a shape resembling popcorn.

In research

The waxworms of the greater wax moth have been shown to be an excellent model organism for in vivo toxicology and pathogenicity testing, replacing the use of small mammals in such experiments. The larvae are also well-suited models for studying the innate immune system. In genetics, they can be used to study inherited sterility. NOTE: cellular and humoral immunity are part of acquired immunity, which is only in vertebrates. Insects only have innate immunity.

Experiments with infected waxworms support the hypothesis that the bacterial stilbenoid 3,5-dihydroxy-4-isopropyl-trans-stilbene has antibiotic properties that help minimize competition from other microorganisms and prevents the putrefaction of the insect cadaver infected by the entomophagic nematode Heterorhabditis, itself host for the Photorhabdus bacterium.

G. mellonella is reported to be capable of hearing ultrasonic frequencies approaching 300 kHz, possibly the highest frequency sensitivity of any animal.

Synonyms

As a widespread and somewhat notorious species, the greater wax moth has been described under a number of now-invalid junior synonyms:

• Galleria austrina Felder & Rogenhofer, 1875
• Galleria cerea Haworth, 1811 (unjustified emendation)
• Galleria cerealis Hübner, 1825 (unjustified emendation)
• Galleria crombrugheela Dufrane, 1930
• Galleria crombrugheella (lapsus)
• Galleria mellomella (lapsus)
• Phalaena mellonella Linnaeus, 1758
• Phalaena cereana Blom, 1764
• Tinea cerella Fabricius, 1775 (unjustified emendation)
• Vindana obliquella Walker, 1866

Junior synonyms (and otherwise invalid names) of the genus Galleria are:

• "Adeona" Rafinesque, 1815 (nomen nudum)
• Cerioclepta Sodoffsky, 1837
• Vindana Walker, 1866

References

• Grabe, Albert (1942). Eigenartige Geschmacksrichtungen bei Kleinschmetterlingsraupen ["Strange tastes among micromoth caterpillars"]. Zeitschrift des Wiener Entomologen-Vereins 27: 105-109 [in German]. PDF fulltext
• Savela, Markku (2009). Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and some other life forms – Galleria mellonella. Version of 2009-APR-07. Retrieved 2010-APR-11.

External links

• waarneming.nl (Dutch).
• Lepidoptera of Belgium
• Wax Moth on UKmoths

• Grabe (1942)
• See references in Savela (2009)