COLLECTING PUPAE (ESCAMOLES) OF Liometopum apiculatum (HYMENOPTERA, FORMICIDAE, DOLICHODERINAE) IN THE SAN LUIS POTOSÍ HIGH PLAIN, MEXICO

The pupae (locally known as escamoles,) of the reproductive caste of the ant Liometopum apiculatum are eaten. Fertilized eggs and larvae are tended in the trabecula by ant workers into the ant nest, but trabecula must be destroyed by collectors to obtain the escamoles and the ants must rebuild their trabecula. The objectives were to characterize how escamoles are obtained in two sites in the San Luis Potosí High Plain (SLP) and two sites in the state of Hidalgo (HGO), Mexico, and to test two artificial trabecula prototypes. Regarding size, 76% of the ant nests were classified as large and 18% as medium. Sound escamoles extraction practices in SLP include excavation from the side to avoid damaging the royal chamber and to access the trabecula chamber. In HGO, sound practices involve the partial extraction of the trabecula. In both regions, it is understood that the death of an ant nest is usually the result of improper management. Between 57,5 and 62,5% of the volume of the trabecula prototypes was used by the ants. These prototypes are easier to place in ant nests on sites with deep, friable soil. Collectors acknowledged the ease of separating the escamoles that developed on the prototypes.