Gonimbrasia belina
| Gonimbrasia belina | ||||||||||||
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Gonimbrasia belina |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Gonimbrasia belina | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
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Gonimbrasia belina is a butterfly ( moth ) from the family of the peacock moth (Saturniidae). In English, the moth as is Mopani and the Caterpillar as mopane worm ( German mopane worm , although it is a caterpillar is) because the caterpillar from the mopane tree Colophospermum mopane malnourished. The moth's caterpillars are used as food insects and are an important source of protein for millions of people in southern Africa .
distribution
Gonimbrasia belina is common in Namibia , Botswana , Zimbabwe and the South African provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga .
Way of life
After mating, the female lays 50 to 200 eggs on leaves and branches of mopane trees. After about 10 days, the caterpillars hatch from the eggs and eat the leaves in their immediate vicinity. The caterpillar sheds its skin four to five times during its growth, and then pupates in a cocoon in the earth . After six to seven months, the moth hatches in November to December at the beginning of summer. The moth does not eat anything and only lives three to four days, during which it mates and lays eggs. In good years, a second generation of caterpillars grows up to the beginning of April and then pupates.
The caterpillar feeds primarily on mopane, but also eats other native trees in the area. This enables the butterfly to spread over a fairly large geographic region. Since the caterpillar stage is relatively short compared to other caterpillars, the damage to the leaves of the trees is also relatively small.
Enemies
Often over 40% of the eggs in a year are infested with one of the numerous parasites. The caterpillars serve as food for many birds and some small mammals. In addition, the caterpillar is threatened by a virus infection with a considerable death rate.
Use by humans as food insects
Collecting the caterpillars and selling them is an industry with annual sales of several million euros in southern Africa and makes the caterpillar one of the economically most important insects .
Collect
Traditionally, the caterpillar was collected as a food. Due to the seasonal supply in December and at the end of March, beginning of April of the edible caterpillars, they were more of a supplement to the diet than a permanent food. Agricultural methods have been used for harvesting since the 1950s. Hundreds of helpers in groups collect the caterpillars by hand and pack them in sacks so that they can be transported for further processing. Many landowners with mopane trees demand money from the collectors so that they can pluck the caterpillars from their trees. While both sides benefit from this, the local people suffer because they depend on the caterpillars for food.
Preserve
The caterpillars can be soaked in brine and sold in cans. This is typical of rural supermarkets in southern Africa. Another method of preservation is drying in the sun so that the caterpillars can be transported for a longer time. These are then soaked again or salted.
sustainability
Because the caterpillar is an important local industry, it attracts many people who sell the caterpillar as food. This led to overuse and lower populations in the following years. Farmers and communities have then taken steps to adjust harvests so that subsequent populations remain stable.
Some farmers see the caterpillar as a threat to their crops and try to fight the plague with insecticides and the like. This fear is unfounded, as the caterpillar does little damage to the foliage and the eaten leaves lead to new leaf shoots.
Resettlement
In some areas where Gonimbrasia belina was widespread, overexploitation has made it disappear as there was no sensible approach to commercial exploitation. Since the moth only lives three to four days, it has little time to fly back into deserted areas. If that was successful, the caterpillars must not be collected again immediately to enable a stable population, which is only possible in cooperation with the farmers. It has been observed that moths from game reserves where mopan caterpillars were not collected were rebuilding populations in over-exploited areas.
breed
There are considerations to breed the caterpillar of Gonimbrasia belina in a similar way to the silkworm . This would make the industry less dependent on climatic changes, drought and other factors that affect the harvest. In order for breeding to be successful on a small scale and accessible to the poorest of the poor, the costs of breeding must be comparable to the costs of collecting in the wild.
preparation
The caterpillar can be eaten dried as a snack, boiled, deep-fried or seared. It is often served with maize porridge , the staple food for many people in southern Africa. It is usually eaten with the skin on. However, the contents of the intestines are usually removed. To do this, the caterpillar is pinched towards the end in order to tear up the innards. Then the contents of the intestines are pushed out through the intestines like a tube of toothpaste.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Mopane Worm Life Cycle and Metamorphosis ( Memento of the original from March 8, 2002 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ The Mopane Worm - Indigenous Knowledge in the Classroom ( Memento of the original from December 17, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b On the trail of missing Mopane Worms ( Memento of the original from December 17, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
