Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Eighty percent of the world's nations eat insects of 1,000 to 2,000 species. [10] [11] FAO has registered some 1,900 edible insect species and estimates that there were, in 2005, some two billion insect consumers worldwide. FAO suggests eating insects as a possible solution to environmental degradation caused by livestock production. [12]
A robber fly eating a hoverfly The giant anteater, a large insectivorous mammal. An insectivore is a carnivorous animal or plant that eats insects. [1] An alternative term is entomophage, [2] which can also refer to the human practice of eating insects. The first vertebrate insectivores were amphibians.
Predators that eat poisonous butterflies and moths may vomit violently, learning not to eat insects with similar markings; this is the basis of Müllerian mimicry. [143] Some ground beetles of the family Carabidae actively defend themselves, spraying chemicals from their abdomen with great accuracy, to repel predators.
Insects as food or edible insects are insect species used for human consumption. [1] Over 2 billion people are estimated to eat insects on a daily basis. [ 2 ] Globally, more than 2,000 insect species are considered edible, though far fewer are discussed for industrialized mass production and regionally authorized for use in food.
The fore gut of some species extends the whole length of the insect and can be used to store prey for digestion later. This may be advantageous in an insect that feeds intermittently. [48] Chinese mantises live longer, grow faster, and produce more young when they are able to eat pollen. [49]
The common earwig is an omnivore, eating plants and ripe fruit as well as actively hunting arthropods. To a large extent, this species is also a scavenger, feeding on decaying plant and animal matter if given the chance. Observed prey include largely plant lice, but also large insects such as bluebottle flies and woolly aphids. [10]
"Eat your bugs - harvesting edible stink-bugs". Science in Africa. Archived from the original on 16 April 2011. Menzel, Peter; D'Aluisio, Faith (1998). Man Eating Bugs: The Art and Science of Eating Insects. Ten Speed Press. ISBN 978-1-58008-022-4. Nejame, Sam. "Man Bites Insect" New York Times Sunday Magazine. 10 February 2008. Dicke, Marcel.
Antlion larvae eat small arthropods – mainly ants – while the adults of some species eat pollen and nectar, and others are predators of small arthropods. [17] In certain species of Myrmeleontidae, such as Dendroleon pantherinus , the larva, although resembling that of Myrmeleon structurally, makes no pitfall trap, but hides in detritus in a ...