Skip to content

Tag Archives: Edible Insects: Tasty Morsels

What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Toe-Biters and other Insect Fast Food in Thailand

Rescuing fish…!
Hi Daniel,
Many thanks for sparing your time to identify my whipscorpion. The poor little thing was probably snoozing somewhere nice and dry under the big pot – I feel guilty now about putting it back in the waterlogged yard ! Looking at the all the whipscorpion pics, it looks like I found one of the less scary looking ones! On a slightly different tack, you mention elsewhere that toe-biters are a delicacy in Thailand, so I thought I’d send you a couple of photos of these tasty snacks at a roadside stall in Bangkok. Mmmm…Yummy ! ( Actually that’s me quoting somebody else. ) Also, I’ve just looked at the ‘ About WTB ‘ for the first time, and am delighted to find you’re not nerdy boffins, but outrageeous artists !! Love the I da Ho sweater ! Cheers,
Graham.

Hi again Graham,
Thank you so much for adding to our Edible Insect archive with your Toe-Biter Fast Food images.

Posted 20 September 2007 § Toe Biters ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:

Tarantula

Tarantula pics for you all.
It’s the time here in the central coast of CA when these handsome guys wander out looking for mates and higher ground. Saw this 5″ monster crossing the road and brought him home for some photos. He was very calm and only “shot” hairs at me once. Dropped him off right where I found him the next day on my way to work. Thanks for all the helpful information you provide on your site!
Kurt Kummerfeldt

Hi Kurt,
Thanks for sending us your high quality Tarantula photograph. We believe it is Aphonopelma iodius, a species found widely in California, Nevada and Utah according to Sharon McKenzie’s posting on BugGuide which states: “one of their characteristics is that dark triangle on the carapace that surrounds the eye turret area.”

Tarantulas — edible! (sometimes too much sought-after)
Hi Daniel,
While the tarantulas of the American Southwest have traditionally not been eaten, this is not the case in the Amazonian rain-forest and the teeming tourist towns of Cambodia. The super-huge Theraphosa (so-called ‘bird eating spiders’) of Venezuela have traditionally been on the menu. The spiders are teased out of their lairs with grass; speared; and roasted over flames to singe off those urticating hairs. Actually there’s an unfortunate precedent: tarantulas served at an exotic foods banquet at the Explorer’s Club in NYC were insufficiently cooked, and some diners went to the hospital with hairs in their esophagi. The small town of Skuon, Cambodia, is well known for fried tarantula. People [I suspect foreigners, mostly] have traveled to Skuon in particular to partake from the stacked piles of black, shrunken bodies balanced on the bamboo trays of street-hawkers. Many conservationists suspect that the tarantula population will not sustain this kind of enthusiasm. Best,
Dave
www.slshrimp.com

Posted 19 September 2007 § Spiders ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:

Golden Silk Spider

Spider – Volusia Co
I’ve changed my mind about the sz of the spider – it’s front legs are about 2″ long! It may be closer to 4″ in sz. I kept looking – may be a golden orb spider. Would still like to know what’s happening in the 4th pic where it looks disjointed?? Thanks
Betty
Orange City

Hi Betty,
This is a Golden Silk Spider or Banana Spider, Nephila clavipes. The image in question shows the molting process. As an arthropod grows, its exoskeleton does not, and it needs to be shed to allow for growth. Immediately after molting, the insect is soft and vulnerable, and often hides until its new exoskeleton has hardened.

Edible Update
(08/16/2007) Nephila spider: edible!
Hi Daniel,
Hope this note finds you and Lisa Anne well. I recently learned that the formidable-looking Nephila are eaten somewhere in Asia, I think it’s either India or Malaysia. Somewhere I’ve got a grainy black-and-white picture of a bundle of these spiders tied together by their legs in the marketplace. I’d go get the picture but we’re in another state now and I don’t want to delay writing to you. I haven’t yet deliberately eaten a spider. Best,
Dave
www.slshrimp.com

Posted 16 August 2007 § Spiders ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Rodent Bot Fly Maggot (and it’s edible)

Squirrel insect
These grubs or insects showed up in my cabin along with a dead squirrel the cat brought in. Could be that its a coincidence or perhaps the cat brought them as an additional gift. The insects were not on the squirrel. Can you help me identify these so I can decide weather they a friend or foe.
Rick in Western Colorado

Hi Rick
Here is one sure to gross out our readership. These are Rodent Bot Fly Maggots, Cuterebra species. The Rodent Bot Fly is a mammalian endoparasite. According to a website we located: “The female flies will lay their eggs along rabbit trails and near rodent burrows. The first stage larvae will hatch and quickly attach to hair when a host brushes against the egg. The larvae then burrow into the skin and leave a breathing hole. ” Also on the website is the information: “Cuterebra is a normal bot fly of rodents and rabbits, but can also infect cats, dogs, and man. The adult fly looks like a bumblebee and is rarely seen. It may appear a shiny blue or black color. The third stage larva is dark brown to black with stout black spines. ” Your close-up photo shows the mouth hooks of the maggot, substantiated by this image on BugGuide. Bot Flies are also known as Warble Flies due to the lumps visible on the skin of the hapless host. There is also a Human Bot Fly, Dermatobia hominis, that is found in Central America.

Wolves on Rabbits
(08/15/2007)
Daniel…
After just reading your description of the bot fly larvae, I’m wondering…at certain times of the year (usually late summer, early fall) when my father would go rabbit hunting, (we actually depended on them for food in the ’50’s), they would sometimes get rabbits with what they then called ‘wolves’ in their necks and we were not allowed to use them for a food source. Could it be that I’ve learned after all these years that these were actually bot fly larvae? I large lump would most times be visible. Does this actually damage the meat for human consumption? Thanks for taking the time to read my query and if you have time to answer, that would be great, but if you don’t, I understand…. Sincerely,
Pat, Hawk Point

Hi Pat,
It sounds like your rabbits with wolves were parasitized by a Bot Fly. The meat near the wolf or warble might be unsavory, but cooking the meat would definitely kill the parasite.

Joanne Gets Sick!!!(08/15/2007) The Rodent Bot Fly
Will you pay for cleaning my nice leather recliner cuz I just barfed on it.
Joanne

Close Encounter with a Human Bot Fly!!!
(08/15/2007) Human Bot Fly experience
Hello fellow bug-nuts,
Your recent posting of the rodent bot fly larvae brought back some interesting memories. I brought an unexpected souvenir home from a trip to Costa Rica in ‘00. You guessed it. Luckily, I’d read about these critters. Made me the hit of my local doctor’s office. I actually printed a page from a Canadian website and brought it along in to prove I knew what I was talking about. It is a very weird sensation to feel these beasts move when they’re in your flesh (mine was in the flab of my upper left arm). You can actually feel the bristles they anchor themselves with as they twist about. The research I did told me the adult female bots actually wrestle a mosquito down and lay an egg on the mosquito’s abdomen. Then the mosquito bites a host, the egg on her belly hatches (very quickly, apparently), and the newborn enters the mosquito’s bite site. My research also gave me the bot’s larval timeline, so I knew how long I had, and how insistent to be at the doctor’s office. Love your site! I check it every day.
Don J. Dinndorf
St. Augusta, MN

Bot Fly Larvae are Edible
edibility update on bot fly
Hi Daniel,
Just to keep the gross-out fest going, and to answer Pat’s question: I’m pretty sure that NO, the presence of bot fly larvae would not render the host animal inedible. There’s a good deal of documentation [as recent as 1918] of Inuit hunters taking down caribou that were infested with large fly larvae, and then making a point of cooking and eating the larvae first. Not sure if I could do it, especially considering the textural issue of those rough, stubble-like projections all over the larvae’s sides, but the point is that if some people enjoyed eating the actual flesh-consuming maggots, then eating the rest of the animal would not be a big deal. Reluctance to do so is pure ‘fussiness’ on our part. Best,
Dave
www.slshrimp.com

Posted 15 August 2007 § Flies § Maggots ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:

Toebiter Bar-Be-Que

Edible toe-biters
Hi Daniel,
Thought you might be amused to see this image from a recent barbecue thrown by entomology fans. In addition to the many standard menu choices, I’d brought some insects. These Giant Water Bugs are sold by the fourpack on a Styrofoam tray. Though the thick exoskeleton is not really edible, there’s actual meat inside and it’s very tasty — a really unusual flavor in fact. Best,
Dave
www.slshrimp.com

Hi Dave,
Thanks for sending us that yummy looking photo.

Posted 02 August 2007 § Uncategorized ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:

Edible Leafcutter Ants

Edible Leaf-Cutter Ants
A little while back I received a package from an amazing person in Texas whom I met indirectly through www.Bugguide.net . This spectacular individual had agreed to try to harvest these winged alates [which emerge within a pretty specific time-window, kind of like cicadas but far less numerous]. Though at first it had seemed that we’d missed the window of opportunity, in the end I got OVER 2 POUNDS of these impressive and beautiful ants. They were shipped overnight to my Rhode Island home and arrived nicely chilled. I’ve tried them; while they’re tasty – unlike cicadas, their wings are largely inedible – I have yet to make them the delectable delicacies I know them to be. These ants are consumed in Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, and probably elsewhere. If anyone can suggest a good recipe (Roasting, baking? What spices, if any?) I’d be grateful for some advice. Thanks,
Dave
www.slshrimp.com

Thanks David,
We can always depend upon you for palette stimulating submissions.

Posted 24 July 2007 § Ants ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:

Giant Longhorn from Bolivia

Can you identify this big?
I came across this bug while on a mission trip to Bolivia, I cannot for the life of me remember what they called it. Can you please Identify it? I have attached it to this email
Laurne

Hi Lauren,
This is a Giant Longhorn Beetle, Macrodontia cervicornis. We found information on Wikipedia that states: “Macrodontia cervicornis is the largest and best-known member of this genus of long-horned beetles, and this species is sometimes considered the second longest among all beetles, with known specimens exceeding 17 cm in length. A fair bit of this length, however, is due to the enormous jaws, from which it derives both of the names in its binomen; Macrodontia means ‘large tooth’, and cervicornis means ‘deer antler’. For that reason, it is generally excluded from consideration by purists who do not take the jaws, legs , or antennae of a beetle into account when determining length. This species is known from the rain forests of Colombia ,Peru ,Bolivia , the Guianas, and Brazil , but there are an additional seven described species in the genus, extending the overall range of the genus from Guatemala to Argentina .”

Update: (07/24/2007) Macrodontia [the grubs] are a delicacy
Hi Daniel,
Impressive images of that beetle. There’s evidence that these guys were once meals in the Amazonian rain forest; a desirable serving not only of protein and vitamins but of pleasing and energy-giving fats. While that still might be true, I have a feeling that these days someone finding a grub in the jungle would be likelier to raise it to adulthood and sell it as a specimen than eat it. Which is kind of sad, really. Best,
Dave
www.slshrimp.com

Posted 23 July 2007 § Longhorn Beetles ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:

Pandora PineMoth has edible caterpillars called Piuga by the Paiute!!!

Mystery Moth
Hi!
I found your site after scouring the internet for an identification of a moth I found that stunned itself running into my window. I live in Mariposa County in California about 25 miles from Yosemite National Park. This..not so little..guy is really fuzzy and has bright orange non-fuzzy stripes on his body. Its the second one I’ve seen in two days. Any information you could provide would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!!
Charity

Hi Charity,
This is a Pandora Moth, Coloradia pandora. It is a male judging by the antennae. There are five images on BugGuide, and all are from Klickitat County, Washington, USA. Curious about what caused some naturalist of yore to name this lovely moth after that mythical she who unleashed countless plagues upon our planet upon opening the proverbial “Pandora’s Box”, we continued to web search. The Butterflies and Moths of North America site has addtional information and lists this as the Pandora Pinemoth. Additional research led us to Wikipedia, which had this information: “It is native to the western United States. The larvae of the Pandora Moth feed on the foliage of several species of pine trees, including the lodgepole ,Jeffrey , and ponderosa pines. The larvae populations sometimes reach high enough levels to cause severe defoliation; such outbreaks have occurred in northern Arizona , central Oregon , and southern California . The Paiute people in California’s Owens Valley and Mono Lake areas harvest, prepare, and store the Pinemoth larvae (which they call piuga ) as a preferred food. This has brought the natives into conflict with the United States Forest Service , which has sought to control Pinemoth populations through the use of insecticides.” There is no information on Conservapedia, a fascinating site we just read about that has a glaring lack of information on the Praying Mantis as well. HMMMMM. What’s That Bug just might try to contribute that much needed article to the conservative rebuttal of the heathen scientific information on Wikipedia, though somehow we think our sense of humor might not be appreciated there.

Posted 11 July 2007 § Giant Silk Moths ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:

Cabbage Tree Emperor Moth from South Africa: Bunaea alcinoe

Not sure if you can identify caterpillars from Africa but the picture of one attached is ‘bugging’ us. We would love to know what its called, and whether its poisonous? We came across several in a garden near Port Elizabeth, South Africa. It was about the size of an average index finger. 3-4 inches long. thank you Regards
Fran and John Barnes (England – UK)

Hi Fran and John,
All we can say for certain is that this is a Saturnid Moth Caterpillar, and it looks like one of the Royal Moths, the group that contains the Hickory Horned Devil in the U.S. Though formidable looking, these are not poisonous caterpillars.

(03/28/2007) Royal Moth caterpillar from S.Africa
Hello Daniel and Lisa Anne, Apologies for having been silent so long; I have quite a few images of edible insects to send [in fact I recently supplied edible bugs to The Tonight Show!] but am having trouble formatting them for appropriate sizes. This dramatically-colored caterpillar from South Africa: it’s Bunaea alcinoe, as found in Kirby Wolfe’s wonderful Saturnid site. And yup, it’s edible throughout several southern African countries. Here’s the pertinent web page: http://www.insectcompany.com/silkmoth/kwbalcinoe.htm
All the best,
Dave
www.slshrimp.com

Hi again Dave,
Thanks so much for the identification and link. Further research on our part has revealed a common name, the Cabbage Tree Emperor Moth.

Posted 26 March 2007 § Silkworms ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:

White Lined Sphinx Caterpillars

Hi Guys,
Hope this note finds you both well. Here’s some edible-bug-page text. I went ahead and sent in what I had before, plus one new one. We moved over the month of June, so I’ve been out of communication.
Here’s the Text: White-Lined Sphinx: Hyles lineata
You’ve gotten various pictures of this caterpillar; I’ve listed them here. You might want to take the most recent one. A more radical idea would be to show them all – good contrast to show the variability of the markings? ‘Course that might well be a lot of work. Just a thought. This caterpillar was (and might still be, for all I know) a very popular food item throughout most of its range, particularly in the Western U.S. and Mexico. To the Pima of southern Arizona it’s makum. To the Maricopa along the Gila River it’s ame. The Seri of northwestern Mexico call/ed it hehe icam, which means "plant’s live thing." This information (and the narrative for Rhynchophorus on this page) comes from DeFoliart’s impressive text, which can be found at www.food-insects.com .
I had a chance to eat this caterpillar in New Mexico in June 2005, but I was on sacred ground at the time so that would have been a no-no
David Gracer

Hi David,
Thank you for clueing us in to the edibility of this highly variable caterpillar..

Posted 06 August 2006 § Uncategorized ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:

Dobsonfly for Dinner!!!

this bug… what is it??
Hi, I found this bug outside and it was dead when I found it. It was just so strange I put it in a container and too pics of it. I can’t seem to find anything like it on the internet. I put some pictures of it in the email, but here’s the facts you might not be able to tell by the pics. It has small eyes, 6 legs that are NOT bent back like a grasshopper… They’re all down and pretty short. It has a wierd pincher thing on it’s butt… I don’t know if that’s for mating or what. It has hard tusk like things coming off it’s face. I’m not sure if they’re antenna but then it has another set of antenna on its head. It has I THINK 2 sets of wings. I could only see 2 wings, but my cousin picked up the bug and said he thought there was another set of wings under the ones we can see. If you can help me PLEASE tell me what this thing is. If you’re not the one that can ID it, please pass it on to who can. Thank you very much,
Andrea

Hi Andrea,
It is so daring of you to serve up this male Dobsonfly for Dinner before you even knew what it was and if it was edible. We already have the larval form, known as Hellgrammites, on our edible insect page, and now we will add your toothsome specimen to that page as well.

Posted 04 August 2006 § Dobsonflies and Fishflies ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:

Hellgrammite

What kind of bug is this?
I found many of these bugs shortly after it rained in North Georgia. I was on a camping trip and I would like to know what these are. Thank you
David

Hi David,
This is a Hellgrammite, the larval form of the Dobsonfly. They are prized bait for trout fishermen.

Update from David Gracer
www.slshrimp.com
Hellgrammite
Dobsonflies are classed in the order Neuroptera. The larvae, hellgrammites, are not only by fisherman as bait, but are also highly regarded as food in some places (mostly Mexico and South America). The larvae are found under stones in streams, but of course they’re well-equipped with pain-inducing pincers. Although these are among the most fearsome-looking of all the edible insects I’ve seen, page 157 of the excellent book Man Eating Bugs: The art and science of eating insects displays a picture of a little girl in Peru holding a large hellgrammite

Posted 22 May 2006 § Hellgrammite ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:

Page 3 of 4«1234»