Ethnoentomology

Ethnoentomology is the study of the relationship between insects and people. The name is derived from "ethno" - study of people and "entomology" - study of insects. The focus of ethnoentomolgy is on how insects have been or are being used in human societies around the world. This includes insects used for food, rituals, music and medicine.

Insects as food

Entomophagy, the eating of insects, is considered a culinary delicacy in many parts of the world, but is uncommon and even taboo in some societies. Insects used in food include caterpillars, silkworms, Maguey worms, Witchetty grubs & other beetle and moth larvae; crickets, grasshoppers & locust; and arachnids such as spiders & scorpions. They can also be mixed with other ingredients, such is the case with casu marzu.

Insects in medicine

One of the most commonly used insects in medical purposes is the blow fly larvae. The first recorded use of it was during World War II. Military surgeons noticed that wounds which were left untreated for several days and which became infested with maggots, healed better than wounds not infested with the blow fly larvae. It was later discovered that the larvae secreted a chemical called allantoin, which had a curative effect. Allantoin is now being used to treat the infectious bone disease, Osteomyelitis.

Maggot Debridement therapy is the intentional introduction of live, disinfected fly larvae into non-healing or dead skin and soft tissue wounds of a human or other animal for the purpose of selectively cleaning out only the necrotic tissue within a wound in order to promote wound healing. It is also used to prevent infection and to speed the healing process.

Apitherapy is the medical use of honeybee products. One of the major peptides in bee venom, called Melittin, is used to treat inflammation in sufferers of Rheumatoid arthritis and Multiple sclerosis. Melittin blocks the expression of inflammatory genes, thus reducing swelling and pain. It is administered by direct insect sting, or intramuscular injections

Cantharidin, the blister-causing oil found in several families of beetles, was accepted by the FDA in 2004 as treatment for warts and other skin problems. It also has historical use by the Greeks and Romans and is used as an aphrodisiac in some societies. Another extract from Blister beetles has also been used to treat problems of the urogenital system.

In the Brazilian Amazon, members of the Tupí-Guaraní language family have been observed using "Pachycondyla commutata" ants during female rite-of-passage ceremonies, and prescribing the sting of "Pseudomyrmex" spp. for fevers and headaches. [William Balée (2000), "Antiquity of Traditional Ethnobiological Knowledge in Amazonia: The Tupí-Guaraní Family and Time" "Ethnohistory" 47(2):399-422.]

ee also

*Ethnobiology
*Historical ecology
*William Balée