ABSTRACT

This chapter discribes the role of insects in food webs and our use of insects as food for humans, livestock or game animals. Insects are closely related to crustaceans, have similar morphology and physiology and are similar in nutritional value. Insects or their products are important food resources for a variety of other animals, including humans. Insects have been, and continue to be, valued as food in many cultures. In Mexico, red maguey worms, larvae of the moth Comadia redtenbacheri, feed on the leaves of agave plants and are often added to bottles of mezcal. Grasshoppers, locusts and related crickets have been particularly useful sources of food for millennia. Chapulines, genus Sphenarium, are a brachypterous species that is easily harvested for food and is probably the most popular insect consumed in Latin America. Carmine and cochineal dyes are made from crushed scale insects, particularly species of Kermes, Porphyrophora and Dactylopius.