[Aim]  To investigate the effect of habitat biodiversity on the nutritional quality of Clanis bilineata tsingtauica, an important edible insect. [Methods]  The correlation between insect community diversity and the nutrient composition of C. b. tsingtauica living under different aquaculture regimes was analyzed. Malaise traps were used to investigate insect biodiversity in soybean fields under net-shed and open-field cultivation methods and the concentrations of amino acids, proteins, and fatty acids in C. b. tsingtauica larvae living under these two different soybean cultivation methods was measured and compared. [Results]  Insect species diversity was significantly higher in open-fields than in net sheds (P<0.05); a total of 11 068 specimens belonging to 9 orders and 39 families were captured in the open-fields, compared to 6 805 specimens (8 orders and 28 families) in net-sheds. An α diversity analysis indicates that both the Shannon-Wiener diversity and Margalef richness indices of open fields were significantly higher than those of net sheds (P<0.001). The amount of protein, five amino acids (serine, glycine, alanine, histidine and tryptophan) and two fatty acids (pentadecanoic acid and palmitic acid) in C. b. tsingtauica were significantly higher in specimens from open-fields than those from net sheds (P<0.05). Both the Shannon-Wiener diversity and Margalef richness indices, were positively correlated with the abundance of proteins, five differential amino acids and two differential fatty acids in C. b. tsingtauica. [Conclusion]  The nutritional quality of C. b. tsingtauica from open-field soybean crops was higher than that of those from net sheds, which may reflect the richer insect diversity of open-field soybean crops. These results provide a basis for the improving the nutritional value of C. b. tsingtauica.