Maybe they are all mopane worms, but just in different stages? Who knows.



Moderators: Chris S., Pau, Beatsy, rjlittlefield, ChrisR
Alas, there is no correlation between spots on the skin of a caterpillar and spots on the wings of an adult.JoanYoung wrote:I must say this looks more like the mopane moth than the blue / white / black one posted earlier, as the moth also has these eyes on the wings like the caterpiller here.
Frankly, I think the idea of eating insects is disgusting! On the other hand, I did eat "lamb fries" one time only:JoanYoung wrote:Thanks Mike. Remind me not to take you along on a field trip, you will be eating all my subjects before I can take pics of them.![]()
He forwarded images of a couple of pages from a CASS publication (Centre for Applied Social Sciences at the University of Zimbabwe) by P.A. Hobane: The gathering, processing, consumption and Trade of edible caterpillars in Bulilimamangwe district.I haven't seen any of the two photos on the sites. However, the black one is close to what I know. We have the green ones in the Gynanisa maia species.
What's in a name? Beats me. As far as I know, "Matondo" could just mean "big edible caterpillars"!...everyone in the region collected, processed, and roasted two main caterpillar species—the orange-spiked, black-bodied Gonimbrasia belina, and the fleshy green Gynanisa maia, both known locally as Matondo—and served them fried or in stews.