Concerning some taxonomic confusions in African edible caterpillars
Germain Mabossy-Mobouna 1,2,3, Louis Looli Boyombe3, Thierry Bouyer4, Paul Latham5, Justin B. Ombeni3,11, Jean Claude Monzenga3, Theodore Munyuli B. M.10,11, Françoise Madamo Malasi6, Augustin Konda Ku Mbuta7 & François Malaisse8,9
ABSTRACT
Edible insects, and in particular edible caterpillars, occupy a strategic place in the fight against hunger and malnutrition on a global scale. It is essential that the different species are correctly identified to ensure their exploitation and sustainable conservation. This article raises examples of the taxonomic confusions found in the scientific literature regarding the edible caterpillars of Africa. This study indicates that these taxonomic confusions follow identification based on the comparison of morphological features using photos taken from previous articles that used the same method of identification. Hence there is a repetition of taxonomic confusions in the online scientific literature. To put an end to these confusions, the authors plead for molecular identification of edible caterpillars, which should be extended to all known and available species in order to constitute a real data bank as a reference for all future studies of edible caterpillars.
Keywords: Taxonomic confusion, DNA test, realistic identification, edible caterpillars, Africa.
Affiliations
1Teacher-Researcher, Laboratoire de Nutrition et d’Alimentation Humaines, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, Université Marien Ngouabi, Congo Brazzaville.
2Unité de Recherche Nutrition, Santé et Motricité Humaine, Institut Supérieur d’Education Physique et Sportive, Université Marien Ngouabi, Congo Brazzaville.
3Equipe d’Entomophagie, Laboratoire d’Entomologie Appliquée et Fonctionnelle, Institut Facultaire des sciences Agronomiques de Yangambi, BP-1232 Kisangani, R.D. Congo
4Independent researcher, 57 rue Genot B 4022 Chênée, Belgium.
5Retired Officer of the Salvation Army, U.K.
6Laboratoire d’Entomologie fonctionnelle et évolutive, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, Liège University, Belgium
7Biologist, Research Institut in Health Sciences (I.R.S.S.), Kinshasa, D.R. Congo
8Professor emeritus, Biodiversity and Landscape Unit, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, Liège University, Belgium.
9Meise Botanical Garden, Belgium.
10Departments of Agriculture, Biology and Environment, National Center for Research in Natural Sciences, CRSN-Lwiro, D.S., Bukavu, South Kivu province, eastern D.R.Congo.
11Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Institut Supérieur des Téchniques Médicales de Bukavu, ISTM, B.P. 3036, South Kivu province, eastern D.R.Congo.
Infos article
African Journal of Tropical Entomology Research: 1 (2) pp. 105-115.
© 2022 Mabossy-Mobouna et al.
ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE/ OPEN ACCESS
*Corresponding author: [email protected]
Received: 06 July 2022
Accepted: 22 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 : Mabossy-Mobouna, G., Looli, BL, Bouyer, The., Latham, P., Ombeni, JB, Monzenga, JC., Munyuli, TBM, Madamo Malasi, F., Konda Ku Mbuta, A., & Malaisse, F. (2022). A propos de certaines confusions taxonomiques chez les chenilles comestibles africaines. Journal africain de recherche en entomologie tropicale, 1(2), 105–115.