A Systematic Landscape of Rearing Lepidoptera Order in Laboratory: Applications and Perspectives

Abstract

This systematic literature review investigates the body of research on rearing conditions of Lepidoptera insects in laboratory settings. A bibliometric analysis conducted on 368 documents extracted from the Scopus database reveals a historical overview spanning from 1836 to 2023, highlighting significant trends in publication rates and citation counts. Despite a consistent rise in yearly publication rates, citation frequencies have notably declined over time. The analysis further explores geographic trends, with authors from forty-nine countries contributing to the research landscape. Brazil emerges as the leading contributor, followed by the United States and China. Additionally, the study identifies 159 different journals publishing articles on the subject, with the Journal of Economic Entomology leading in publication frequency. The most cited article focuses on the transgenic enhancement of rice plants against lepidopteran pests. Further examination, with an emphasis on factors influencing rearing conditions and behavioural studies, categorises research topics into areas such as basic biology, biological control and ethological control. Clustering analysis reveals distinct research foci, including the study of larval physiology, host–parasite interactions and the genetic basis of biological control strategies such as Bacillus thuringiensis and transgenic plants. Studies focusing on the most common species of Lepidoptera, Spodoptera frugiperda, are also identified. Overall, this review provides a comprehensive overview of the research trends and thematic areas in the field of the rearing of Lepidoptera under laboratory conditions and can be a source of information for researchers interested in this field. This review is limited to the information deposited in Scopus, the number of research studies focused on lepidopteran rearing in laboratories and the low interaction of researchers between countries. In the present work, the lack of information related to the integration of insect-based by-products and the management of insect rearing residues was evidenced, as well as the lack of information on the economic and environmental impacts of the use of insects as a protein source to improve their role in animal and human food systems.