Insect Galls and Human Ornamentation: The Ethnobotanical Significance of a New Species of Licania from Amazonas, Peru
1978; Wiley; Volume: 10; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2307/2388010
ISSN1744-7429
AutoresBrent Berlin, Ghillean Τ. Prance,
Tópico(s)Agricultural and Food Production Studies
ResumoThe Aguaruna Jivaro of the upper Maraio6n River Valley of north central Peru recognize a species of tree of the genus Licania which is new to science and described here as Licania cecidiophora Prance sp. nov. The tree, called ddship in Aguaruna, is ethnobotanically significant in that it attracts an as yet unidentified insect which lays its eggs on the undersides of the tree's leaves. The developing insect leads ultimately to the formation of a gall. The galls are of major importance to the indigenous Aguaruna, who employ them in necklace production and who have traditionally used them in the manufacture of gigantic mail-like capes. Such employment of insect galls in human ornamentation has not, to our knowledge, been reported in the ethnographic literature for any human society. THE AGUARUNA represent approximately 20,000 manioc-cultivating aboriginal Americans who reside in widely dispersed hamlets and villages along the Upper Marafion River and west of the Santiago River in the Department of Amazonas, Peru (fig. IA). Their major area is just to the west of the true Amazon Basin in what is often referred to in Peru as
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