Dried Mealworm ( Tenebrio molitor )

I have been having another play with the mobile phone microscope.  WE have dried mealworms as an occasional bird food, just at present they are being used a lot.  We have a male Blackbird  that as soon as we appear in the garden flies up to a metre or so from us.  It started by coming and looking for insects etc that are disturbed by our work.  THen we started giving him some food when he appeared.  An extra in Clickychick's blip shows how close he will come.

Mealworms are the larvae of the Yellow Mealworm Beetle.  Originally from the mediterranean they can now be found in many parts of the world because of trading.  If you wanted to rear mealworms (yes people do) they live on a mixture of dry material such as rolled oats or bran with damp foods such as potato or carrot.