Effects of Eight Years of Collecting on the Persistence of Liometopum apiculatum Ant Nests in Rangelands of Charcas, San Luis Potosí, Mexico
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.13102/sociobiology.v71i2.10082Keywords:
Escamoles, ant pupae, dead and alive ant nestsAbstract
In Mexico, the pupae of the reproductive castes of the ant Liometopum apiculatum, escamoles, are highly valued in traditional and gourmet cuisine in the country’s central region. Escamoles are collected during the dry season of the year. The recommended collecting process is to open the ant nest by removing soil until the rearing chamber and the trabeculae with attached escamoles are found. A well-managed ant nest can be collected repeatedly for approximately 12 to 40 years. In Charcas municipality, San Luis Potosí, Mexico, 400 ant nests were located and checked under two land tenure conditions: the Laguna Seca private ranch and the Pocitos communal ejido. The exploitation of escamoles on both tenures was characterized by recording the number of dead and live ant nests. This work evaluated the condition of the ant nests registered in 2012 after eight years. The hypothesis was that ant nests’ survival would be greater in the private than in the communal land. The percentage of living ant nests on the ejido decreased by 35.67%. In contrast, on the ranch, it was 26.88%. The percentage of relocated ant nests was lower on the ejido, 37.43%, compared to the ranch, which was 48.1%. The number of dead ant nests on the ejido increased to 33.51% and on the ranch 15.0%. As predicted by the hypothesis, ant nest survival was higher on the private ranch than on the communal ejido lands because of stronger control of the extraction process.
Downloads
References
Aguirre R., J.R., Negrete S., L.O. & Castro R.,R. (2020). Efectos de 20 años de la parcelación sobre la condición del agostadero comunal de un ejido mexicano. Revista de la Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, 52: 189-203.
Aguirre R., J.R. (1982). Sobre los problemas de las comunidades rurales del altiplano potosino-zacatecano. Salinas de Hidalgo, San Luis Potosí. México: Centro Regional para Estudios de Zonas Áridas y Semiáridas, Colegio de Postgraduados, 12 p.
Ambrosio A., G.A. (2013). La recolección de escamoles (Liometopum apiculatum M.) en el corredor gastronómico del municipio de Teotihuacán, Estado de México. Unpublished master’s thesis. Toluca, Estado de México, México: Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, 101 p.
Barrios-Díaz, B., González-Vázquez, J.A., Márquez-Pérez, G., Ojeda-Martínez, A., Vázquez-Huerta, G. & Barrios-Díaz, J.M. (2016). Situación actual de la recolección de la hormiga escamolera Liometopum apiculatum (Formicidae: Dolichoderinae) en Tetela de Ocampo, Puebla. Entomología Mexicana, 3: 142-145.
Berumen J., M. (2018). Evaluación de riesgo de extinción de Liometopum apiculatum Mayr y descripción de las etapas de recolección, limpieza-lavado-drenado y almacenamiento de sus larvas. Unpublished master’s thesis. Salinas de Hgo., San Luis Potosí, México: Colegio de postgraduados, 83 p.
Cruz-Labana, J.D., Tarango-Arámbula, L.A., Alcántara-Carbajal, J.L., Pimentel-López, J., Ugalde-Lezama, S., Ramírez-Valverde, G. & Méndez-Gallegos, S.J. (2014). Uso de hábitat por la hormiga escamolera (Liometopum apiculatum Mayr) en el centro de México. Agrociencia, 48: 569-582.
Cuadriello A., J.I. (1980). Consideraciones biológicas y econó-micas acerca de los escamoles (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Unpublished Bachelor Thesis. México, DF.: Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 106 p.
Danoff-Burg, J.A. (2002). Evolutionary liability and phylogenetic utility of behavior in a group of ant-guest Staphylinidae beetles. Annals of Entomological Society of America, 95: 143-155.
Del Toro, I., Pacheco, J.A. & Mackay, W.P. (2009). Revision of the ant genus Liometopum (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Sociobiology, 53: 299-369.
Dinwiddie, M.L., Jones, R.W., Roitman-Genoud, P., Tarango-Arámbula, L.A. & Malda-Barrera, G.X. (2013). Estudio etnoentomológico de la hormiga escamolera (Liometopum apiculatum) en dos localidades del estado de Querétaro. Agroproductividad, 6: 27-35.
Gregg, R.E. (1963). The ants of Colorado, with reference to their ecology, taxonomy, and geographic distribution. Denver, CO.: University of Colorado, 792 p.
Gulmahamad, H. (1995). The genus Liometopum Mayr (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in California, with notes on nest architecture and structural importance. The Pan-Pacific Entomologist, 71: 82-86.
Hoey-Chamberlain. R., Rust, M.K. & Klotz, J.H. (2013). A review of the biology, ecology and behavior of velvety tree ants of North America. Sociobiology, 60: 1-10.
Hölldobler, B. & Wilson, E.O. (1990). The Ants. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 732 p.
Kaspari, M. (2003). Introducción a la ecología de las hormigas. In: F. Fernández (Ed.), Introducción a las hormigas de la región neotropical (pp. 97-112). Bogotá, Colombia: Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt.
Lara-Juárez, P., Aguirre R., J.R., Castillo L., P. & Reyes-Agüero, J.A. (2018). Collecting pupae (escamoles) of Liometopum apiculatum (Hymenoptera, Formicidae, Dolichoderinae) in the San Luis Potosí High Plain, Mexico. Interciencia, 43: 763-769.
Lara-Juárez, P. (2013). Etnobiología de escamoles (Liometopum apiculatum) en el altiplano potosino. Unpublished master’s thesis. San Luis Potosí, México: Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, 103 p.
Lara-Juárez, P., Aguirre R., J.R., Castillo L., P. & Reyes-Agüero, J.A. (2015). Biología y aprovechamiento de la hormiga de escamoles, Liometopum apiculatum Mayr (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Acta Zoológica Mexicana, 42: 251-264.
Lara-Juárez, P., Castillo L., P., Tristán-Patiño, F.D.M., Rendón-Huerta, J.A. & Aguirre R., J.R. (2016). Efectos del sitio y la condición de agostadero en la densidad de hormigueros de escamoles (Liometopum apiculatum Mayr). Revista Chapingo serie Ciencias Forestales y del Ambiente, 22: 285-302.
Miller T., E.X. (2007). Does having multiple partners weaken the benefits of facultative mutualism? A test with cacti and cactus-tending ants. Oikos, 116: 500-512.
Miranda R., G., Quintero B., S., Ramos R., B. & Olguín-Arredondo, H.A. (2011). La recolección de insectos con fines alimenticios en la zona turística de Otumba y Teotihuacán, Estado de México. Pasos, 9: 81-100.
QGIS (2002). QGIS Geographic Information System. Geospatial Foundation Project. https://qgis.org. (accessed date 7 June 2020).
Ramos-Elorduy, J. (2006). Threatened edible insects in Hidalgo, Mexico and some measures to preserve them. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, 2 :51-61.
Ramos-Elorduy, J. & Lévieux, J. (1992). Détérmination des caracteristiques spatiales des aires de prospection des plusieurs societés de fourmis mexicaines Liometopum apiculatum et L. occidentale (Hymenoptera Formicidae). Bulletin de la Société Zoologique de France, 117: 21-30.
Ramos-Elorduy, J., Pino M., J.M., Márquez M. C., Rincón V., F., Alvarado P.M., Escamilla P., E. & Bourges R., H. (1984). Protein content of some edible insects in Mexico. Journal of Ethnobiology, 4: 61-72.
Ramos-Elorduy, J. & Pino M., J.M. (1989). Los insectos comestibles en el México antiguo. México D.F.: Diana, 108 p.
Reyes-Agüero, J.A., Zavala S., J.C., Castillo L. P., Aguirre R., J.R. & Grajales L., A. (2020). Manual para recolectar escamoles en el altiplano potosino. San Luis Potosí, México: Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, 71 p.
Secretaría del Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales [SEMARNAT]. (2010). Norma Oficial Mexicana NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010, Protección ambiental, especies nativas de México de flora y fauna silvestres, categorías de riesgo y especificaciones para su inclusión, exclusión o cambio. México. Ciudad de México: Diario Oficial de la Federación, 78 p.
Tschinkel, W.R. & Howard, D.F. (1978). Queen replacement in orphaned colonies of the fire ant, Solenopsis invicta. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 3: 297-310.
Wheeler, W.M. (1905). The North American ants of the genus Liometopum. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 21: 321-333.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Julio César Zavala-Sánchez, Juan Antonio Reyes-Agüero, Priscila Lara-Juárez, Pedro Castillo Lara, Alicia Grajales-Lagunes, Rogelio Aguirre-Rivera
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Sociobiology is a diamond open access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
eISSN 2447-8067
