Ethnoentomology in the municipality of San Antonio Cuaxomulco, Tlaxcala, Mexico: a case study about the different uses of “insects”

Abstract

The ethnoentomological information recorded in this paper was obtained by means of open-ended interviews carried out with inhabitants of San Antonio Cuaxomulco (state of Tlaxcala, Mexico) about their knowledge and traditional use of “insects”. A total of 37 local names were used to describe 26 different ethnospecies. Nineteen of them were considered within the class Insect and they belong to seven different orders. The rest (N=7) were also grouped together with the others under the same name of “insects” and “little animals”, although they don’t have any systematic relationship with the latter. There were four categories of the registered uses: a) entomophagy; b) entomotherapy; c) beliefs (entomoindicators); d) ludic activities. Unfortunately, these traditions are being lost because of the socioeconomic changes that the inhabitants of the municipality have been suffering, and also from the lack of interest and curiosity of the youngest generations to learn this knowledge.