Supervermi: an aid in the removal of plastic

The name is somewhat impressive, the tenebrionids belong to a family of beetles very widespread in the world. The larvae of some tenebrionids are also used as animal feed. the polystyrene
instead, it is one of the most widely used plastics, but also one of the most polluting in the world. It is not easy to recycle and it stands
proliferate in the oceans.

What do the tenebrionides have to do with polystyrene? This type of beetles could be a solution to the polystyrene. The larvae of these insects, called superworms, can even easily digest plastic.

For more information about i catch up with me, we should start with the main character Tenebrionide. The Zophobas morio is its scientific name, its superworm larvae are up to 6 cm long. They are rich in nutrients and
sold as animal feed of all kinds.

The super worms eat anything in front of them, such as vacuum cleaners, even Styrofoam. Such a discovery
was created in 2016 by a student from the University of Manila. After also having a University of Queensland
followed that suggestion and fed the polystyrene superworms for a few weeks.

Here’s that the larvae ate the dreaded one plastic without any problems, digest it easily. the super worms
they survived the party and got fat too. In short, they also extract nutrients from
plastic.

However, the super worms are not immortal, at a certain age they start to have problems and impoverishment
of the gut microbiome. That is precisely why such larvae cannot devour the plastic of the world. A
research to recreate their gut microbiome in an artificial environment is still ongoing.