Locusts and Grasshoppers Acridoidea Ethnobiology of the South American Gran Chaco: A Review

Abstract

Migratory locusts are among the most damaging agricultural plagues in the world. However, the role of grasshoppers and locusts in human societies embraces other cultural dimensions. For the Gran Chaco (an immense plain located in the west of Paraguay, the north of Argentina, a small portion of the south-west of Brazil, and part of the east of Bolivia), the documentation available contains no clear description of the topic, although information is scattered throughout a variety of bibliographic sources. This study presents a synthesis of the significance and role of locusts and grasshoppers for Indigenous communities of the Gran Chaco. It is the result of an exhaustive bibliographic review of the region, as well as fieldwork conducted with various Toba communities. The resulting information has been organized by cultural topic. The references come under ten headings: food, damage, shamanism, fishing, toponyms, names of bands, textile art, string games, oral narrative, and vernacular nomenclature. Details describing forms of gathering and consumption, present and past uses, as well as the reasons why they were abandoned, were recorded, along with negative assessments and the fear experienced at the arrival of swarms of locusts. This synthesis allows reconstruction of a historical cultural aspect of the Gran Chaco which has received little attention, while recording prevailing cultural aspects and others that have fallen into disuse.