Info Vvo
During my year in Malawi 2000-2001 only one outbreak of armyworm was noted some 300 ha of maize and cassava were attacked in the Chitipa and Karonga districts, and the outbreak seems to have been quickly brought under control by chemical spraying Daily Times, 22 December, 2000 . Armyworm has always proved difficult to control once it is in the gregarious phase. In the early days a tobacco extract or pyrethrum powder were among the insecticides used later DDT, BHC, Sevin Carbaryl , Sumithion and...
Info Wxo
A pioneer entomologist, Sweeney outlined in some depth the identification, life-history, distribution, ecology, forms of damage inflicted on cotton, and various modes of control of these many insect pests. Long ago he was advocating, like Smee, integrated pest management of the insects, by means of biological control particularly the encouragement of natural enemies such as parasites and predators, and the elimination of alternative host plants , chemical control DDT was then in vogue , and...
Bugs Hemiptera
Only three species of bugs are commonly eaten in Malawi, and apart from the cicada bugs are very rarely mentioned in the literature on the insect foods of sub-Saharan Africa. Bugs seem to be more often eaten in Asia, and the giant water bug Lethocerus indicus - the allied species L. niloticum is plentiful in the Lower Shire - is commonly sold in food shops in Canton - along with cockroaches Periplaneta americana and water beetles Cybister sp. Bodenheimer 1951 276-7 . None of these species are...
Info Aky
Other pests mentioned were the common house fly, the maize weevil, termites, common crickets and tumbu fly. People recognize that certain insects like the house fly ntchenche are troublesome in that they defecate nyera in food, and spread diseases such as diarrhoea, although one person thought that the fly was a carrier of malaria malungo . The mosquito udzudzu was also frequently discussed as a household pest, and considered troublesome bvuta is the common expression , and is associated with...
Prologue
Throughout the world, and across the centuries, insects have formed an important part of the human diet. As Vincent Holt put it in his well-known little book Why Not Eat Insects , which was aimed to counter the deep-rooted prejudices of Europeans towards insects 'From almost every part of the inhabited globe instances and examples can be brought of the eating of insects, both in ancient and modern times' 1885 32 . From the historical record it seems that humans, like their closest primate...
Mbozi
Mbozi ya Chifilika Ntchembere Zandondo Mphalabungu Mbozi ya Minga-Minga Helicoverpa arm gera Spodoptera exempta Spodoptera sp. Earias biplaga Earias insulana Diparopsis castanea Busseola fusca Sesamia calamistis Chilo partellus Family Pyralidae Euxoa segetis Euxoa ypsilon Family Gelechiidae Pectinophora gossypiella Family Sphingidae Acherontia atropus Nephele comma Bunaea alcinoe Nudaurelia wahlbergi Gonimbrasia zambesina Gonimbrasia belina Gonimbrasia rectilineata Imbrasia ertli Pseudobunaea...
Preface
I have always experienced an intense joy in the natural world, particularly in regard to what the Taoists described as the 'ten thousand things' - the myriad of life-forms that inhabit the earth - for me insects, plants, fungi, frogs, birds and mammals having an especial interest. The first book I ever owned was called Look and Find Out Birds by W. P. Westell , and the first article I ever published was entitled 'Denizen of the Evergreen Forest' in African Wildlife 1962 , describing the habits...
Edible Insects of Malawi
Writing half a century ago, Bodenheimer remarked that 'Africa is perhaps today the continent where insects still play the most important role in the native diet' 1951 22 . This is certainly true of Malawi, and, long before the emergence of cultural entomology, the pioneer ethnobiologist Jessie Williamson was writing graphically of the edible insects that were recorded during the Nyasaland Survey 1938-1940 Williamson 1941, 1992 . Williamson was quite a remarkable woman. Dr William Berry, who was...
Reflections on Folk Classifications
Living in a largely oral culture it has to be recognized that Malawians have no standardized terminology when it comes to insects, and the names given to insects vary widely. Not only are there ethnic and regional variations throughout the country - these are detailed in the appendix -but there are numerous cases of interchangeable synonyms, even with regard to a single individual. Thus both mafulufute and nyamu may be used to signify the thief ant Carebara vidua either pherupheru or gulugufe...
Nyanja Classification of Insects
Folk classifications of animals in Malawi essentially refer, as in other societies, to two basic levels, that of life-form categories, and that of folk generics - which refer to natural kinds. Such natural kinds do not, of course, exist apart from a specific social situation and a local ecological context, as Ellen affirms 1993 71 . Whether or not a natural kind, as the basic form of a living being, can be equated with the biological concept of 'species' has long been debated, although evidence...
Teaestatemanagers Thyolo
Many other species of grasshoppers and crickets Order Orthoptera occasionally feed on cotton, but do not normally cause extensive damage to the crop - although in certain years they may occur in such large numbers that they inflict local damage that can be quite serious, or even total. These include the following species Gryllotalpa africana Gryllus bimaculatus Brachytrypes membranaceus Enyaliopsis petersi Cymatomera sp Homorocoryphus vicinus Pseudorhynchus pungens Nomadacris septemfasciata...
Was
Chiumbambiya Nalugumbu several families Osprynchotus gigas Sceliphron spirifex Paragris analis Pseudagenia brunniceps Belonogaster junceus Belonogaster griseus Icaria distigma Wasps are essentially classified under three taxa those colourful species associated with, or parasitic on, the wasps that build mud nests in houses Chiumbambiya, 'to make pot' the social wasps, who can often inflict powerful stings Mabvu and the velvet ants, which can also inflict painful stings if the female is...
Lakefly Diptera
One day in September many years ago I was travelling on my motorcycle from Chitimba to Rumphi. It was a beautiful clear day, with not a cloud to be seen. However, as I was climbing the Chiweta escarpment I saw across the lake what appeared to be a large dark cloud. It struck me as rather odd. I got off my motorcycle near the top of the escarpment and stopped a local man who was transporting firewood on a rather ramshackle bicycle. I asked him about the cloud. 'It's not a cloud mtambo ', he said...
Grasshoppers Orthoptera
Chitete is a generic term used in Malawi to cover all the smaller grasshoppers, most of which are considered edible. There are well over a hundred small grasshoppers in Malawi Whellan 1975 , the majority belonging to the family Acrididae, and most of these are probably utilized as food. I joined a group of three young boys collecting grasshoppers near Dedza. Their mode of foraging was quite simple. It was a cool overcast afternoon, and they walked through the grassy meadow, each with a stick,...
Traditional Beekeeping
As the African honey-bee, unlike its Asian counterpart, is a cavity-nesting bee, bee keeping using fixed hives developed in Africa from a very early period. Indeed, so-called 'traditional' bee-keeping was evident in Egypt from around 2400 bc. Bees and honey are mentioned several times in the Bible, and though the phrase may be simply metaphorical Canaan is described as 'a land flowing with milk and honey' Exodus 3 17 . Both wax and honey were important as items of trade, and wax had invaluable...
Ootheca Mutabilis
a serious pest of maize, although local people tend to rank the white grub mbozi zoyera and the elegant grasshoppers m'Nunkhadala as more harmful pests than the termites. No control measures are used against termites, although when they become too problematic the queen termite may be dug out and destroyed - yet people are reluctant to do this, as the winged termites ngumbi are a favoured and important source of relish. There is a general feeling that farmers who burn all crop residues, rather...
Locusts Orthoptera
Locusts and grasshoppers have been eaten by humans since time immemorial, and they are one of the few insects clearly recognized as food in the Mosaic dietary rules. They are mentioned fifty-six times in the Bible, and appear in seventeen different books - which indicates their importance as food or pest in Biblical times. They appear more often than any other insect, and around nine different generic names are described in the scriptures Cansdale 1970 238-9 . They are specifically...
Caterpillars Lepidoptera
Along with the winged termites, edible caterpillars are the commonest and most esteemed of the edible insects - and seem to be eaten throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Tessman at the beginning of last century recorded that the Pangwe of the Cameroon consumed more than twenty different kinds of edible caterpillar, and recognized each by its specific name and knew its particular host tree Vide Bodenheimer 1951 188 . More recently Carl Silow 1976 has recorded thirty-one edible caterpillars from...
Nsabwe Order Phthiraptera Lice
This is the common human louse Pediculus humanus. Order Hemiptera Bugs The order Hemiptera true bugs consists of 12 folk generics, the majority of which have a functional status, either as edible insects green shield bug and cicada or as crop pests. Aphids that are a serious pest on plants, such as the cotton aphid Aphis gossyphi are described as 'plant lice' nsabwe za zomera . Nezara robusta Nezara viridula Antestiopsis lineaticollis Sphaerocollis ocellatus Anoplocnemis curvipes Anoplocnemis...
Folk Classifications of Insects a Comparative Perspective
Folk classifications are far less comprehensive than the taxonomic systems of professional biologists, and, as Fikret Berkes writes, the gap between the two classificatory systems increases as the cultural and practical significance of the animal or plant decreases. Thus trees and the larger mammals are often clearly recognized, and there is an almost one-to-one correspondence between folk and scientific nomenclature with regard to the more conspicuous plants and mammals Morris 1996, 1998...