The Mexican fruit fly puparia (Anastrepha ludens) and the black soldier fly imagoes (Hermetia illucens), promising alternative sources of chitin

Insects are renewable biomass with rapid reproduction rates and minimal resource consumption, their cultivation has become a long-term option for food production and increasing amounts of this chitin-rich biomass are becoming available. Chitin from black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) has been studied during its development cycle, finding highest concentration on puparia generally extracted by acid–base method to remove minerals and proteins. The Mexican fruit fly (Anastrepha ludens) used as biocontrol insect also represents a potential source of chitin. The objective of this research was to obtain and characterize chitin from Mexican fruit fly puparia (MFFP) and the Black soldier fly imago (BSFI) using a conventional chemical extraction method. The chitin yield of the MFFP and that of BSFI was 39.97% and 13.95%, respectively, and the FTIR spectra of both materials exhibited bands characteristic of α-chitin, indicating the MFFP and the BSFI promising sources of chitin.