The Growth of Manduca sexta

Manduca sexta is a nocturnal moth that is commonly grown under lab settings due to the ease of studying them. The moth’s large size aids researchers in their ability to study the function of healing the proboscis for medical uses in the future. Usually, the moths are given only Manduca food (MDA), which is a man-made substance with nutrients that they need to grow, except carotenoids and cholesterol. These missing nutrients are what give the moths the ability to see and smell in order to find food, without them, it is hard for the moths to thrive in lab. This brings the question: how can Manduca sexta grow better under a laboratory setting? First, the larvae were fed a variety of foods with the missing nutrients (pumpkin puree, V8, and carrots). Each food was given alone and as a 50-50 mixture with the MDA. Through the weeks, the larvae’s lengths were measured, and overall the pumpkin and MDA mixture, as well as the carrots and MDA mixture were the most successful in raising healthy larvae that turned into adults. Now the question of how to keep these new adults healthy arose. Deciding to test which height they prefer to collect their food from, three 7’5” nets were strung with Datura-like feeding devices that contained 35mL of 14% sugar water, each 17 inches apart. The conclusion was reached that the moths most frequently hovered and ate 51 inches from the ground.