Achaea catocaloides: a pest or a protein-rich food to be promoted throughout Africa?
Latham, P.1*, Mabossy-Mobouna, G.2, Konda Ku Mbuta, A.3, & Looli, B. L.4
ABSTRACT
Achaea catocaloides (Guenée, 1852) (Erebidae), the African apple tree moth, is a migratory species and larvae can appear in very large numbers and cause serious damage to cocoa, coffee, citrus, plantain and mango crops. However, in the Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola, the larvae are considered an important and highly nutritious food. Publicizing the consumption of this caterpillar wherever it swarms in Africa would constitute both an effective means of reducing the damage to important crops and provide an excellent source of food for humans.
Keywords: Achaea catocaloides, crop pest, food source, eruption, outbreak, migratory species.
Affiliations
1Retired Salvation Army officer. Blairgowrie, UK.
2Laboratoire de Nutrition et d'Alimentation Humaines, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, Université Marien NGOUABI, Congo Brazzaville.
3Biologist, Research Institute in Health Sciences (I.R.S.S.), Kinshasa, D.R. Congo.
4Laboratoire d’Entomologie Appliquée et Fonctionnelle, Institut Facultaire des Sciences Agronomiques de Yangambi, BP-1232 Kisangani, D.R. Congo.
Infos article
African Journal of Tropical Entomology Research: 1 (2) pp. 99-104.
© 2022 Latham et al.
ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE/ OPEN ACCESS
*Corresponding author: [email protected]
Received: 11 July 2022
Accepted: 17 July 2022
Published : 06 August 2022
Author(s) agree that this article remain permanently open access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
Citation : Latham, P., Mabossy-Mobouna, G., Nkonda Ku Mbuta, A., & Looli, B. L. (2022). Achaea catocaloides: a pest or a protein-rich food to be promoted throughout Africa?. African Journal of Tropical Entomology Research, 1(2), 99–104.