ENTOMOLOGY 2040 SECTION IX INSECTS AS FOOD AND FIBER PRODUCERS

LEARNING OBJECTIVES OF SECTION

After completing this section students should be able to:

• Describe the various types of insect-produced materials used by humans.

• Describe the process of rearing silk worms and explain how silk is produced.

• Explain how beeswax is produced and describe the various uses of this material by bees, and by humans.

• Describe the production of royal jelly and discusss the uses of this material by honey bees and in human industries.

• Describe the process of producing shellac. Explain why this material is not as broadly used as in the past. Explain why the production of shellac is so labor intensive.

• Describe the source of cochineal dye and discuss the historical uses of this dye, its current uses and the sociological effects of the arrival of the Spanish.

• Describe the source of cantharidin and explain how it is of value to insect. Describe the historical use and misuse of this chemical.

• Explain how certain insect groups have been used, and are used in medicine.

• Describe the "new" products that insects create that are of value to humans and explain how they presently contribute to our way of life.

Insects as Food and Fiber Producers.

    1. Insect secretions.

        a. Silk - from salivary glands of Bombyx mori - silk worm.

        b. Beeswax - natural secretion.

            Honey bee Apis mellifera, adult hypodermal glands.

        c. Royal jelly. Secretion of mandibular glands of "nurse" bees.

        d. Shellac. "Wax" from scale insect hypodermal glands.

    2. Insect bodies.

        a. Cochineal - red dye from pulverized bodies of mealy bug.

            Dactylopius coccus. "Pest" of prickly pear cactus.

        b. Cantharidin: From dried bodies of blister beetles (Meloidae) causes blisters
            on skin of vertebrates.

        c. Insect bodies as lures, fish bait.

        d. Insect bodies used in medicine.

    3. Insects collect, modify products.

        a. Honey bees collect nectar.

    4. Insects create new products. Cause "insect" galls on plants.
        Some are valuable to humans.

        a. Tannic acid - oak galls.

        b. Galls - source of finest dyes and most permanent inks.

STUDY QUESTIONS

1. Where did the production of silk originate?

2. What is the only food plant of the silkworm moth?

3. How is beeswax used by honey bees? How is it used by humans?

4. How does royal jelly affect the development of honey bee larvae? How is it used by humans? How do beekeepers get honey bees to make royal jelly in large quantities?

5. What is the origin of shellac? What is stick lac? Why is its production limited to undeveloped countries?

6. What is the source of cochineal dye? How did it influence the treatment of native Americans by the Spanish?

7. What is "maggot therapy"? How was it discovered that maggots could be used in medicine?

8. What is the source of cantharidin? How is it used by the insect? By humans?

9. Describe the process by which honey bees convert nectar to honey.

10. What is a gall? How is it formed?

Go to Section X - Insects as Decomposers

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