Cultural aspects of ants, bees and wasps, and their products in sub-Saharan Africa

Arnold Van Huis

doi:10.1007/s42690-020-00410-6

Abstract

This study’s purpose was to make an overview of how ants, bees, wasps, and their products, such as honey are utilized, perceived, and experienced in daily life across sub-Saharan Africa. Ethno-entomological information was collected by interviews with more than 300 people from 27 countries and by literature studies. Queens of the ant Carebara vidua are deliberately eaten and unintentionally bee larvae with honey and sugar ants with sugar. Honey, apart from food, is widely used to treat numerous medical problems and as a stimulant (for the memory) or as a cosmetic. In the Qur’an, the medical value of honey is recognized. Seed stores of ants may be harvested by humans. In Sudan, bee stings are used to cure arthritis as bee venom has bioactive properties. Wasp nests are used to cure inflammations such as mumps. Certain insect properties are used in conveying these treatments to persons it is employed to, such as wasps feed do make dogs vicious. Some stories seem to make no sense like the snake-trapping ants in Madagascar, but a scientific explanation is provided. Certain insects’ looks may inspire people to construct stories or have proverbs such as the very narrow waist of wasps, suggesting sterility. Bee swarms and driver ants are feared all over and believed to be employed (by witchdoctors) to punish. Not all stories of events with bees or ants are similar across sub-Saharan Africa. Social insects are also used to stimulate cohesion between people.

Highlights

This study’s purpose was to make an overview of how ants, bees, wasps, and their products, such as honey are utilized, perceived, and experienced in daily life across sub-Saharan Africa
Beer brewing from honey is common in Africa, but in East Africa [Burundi: Hutu; Cameroon: Wimboum; GuineaBissau: Balanta; Kenya: Kalenjin (Ogutu 1986),Kamba, Kikuyu, Luo, Meru; Sudan: Kuku; Tanzania: Chaga, Iraqw, Mwarusha, Pare; Zambia: Bemba, Lozi, Tonga, RES]
The nutritious alates of the thief ant, called black ant, Carebara vidua (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) (Fig. 2) are collected during their nuptial flight when these ants emerge in large numbers from the termitaries in which their nests are concealed (Bequaert 1921)

Summary

Introduction

This study’s purpose was to make an overview of how ants, bees, wasps, and their products, such as honey are utilized, perceived, and experienced in daily life across sub-Saharan Africa. This considering the need to consolidate stories, The number of insect species in the world is estimated to be 1,013,825 while the number of species in the Hymenoptera is 117,000 (11.5%) (Stork 2018) of which about 20,000 in the Afrotropical zone (WaspWeb 2020). The group of Hymenoptera that will be covered in this article are ants, bees, and wasps They belong to the suborder Apocrita, characterized by a constriction between the first and second abdominal segments called a waspwaist (petiole). Sphecidae (worldwide 791 species) (Pulawski 2020), which are characterized by a very long, slender waste

Methods

Results

Conclusion