Are honey bees the only insect that produce food for human consumption. eg honey.?
Bees are the only insect that produce food that is used for human consumption in large enough quantities to make it economically feasible to raise. However, some ants store a honey dew extracted from other insects like aphids as a reservoir of food in times of drought etc. Aboriginals know where and how to collect them for food. The ants fill with the honey dew and hang from the top of the ants runs to be milked as needed. In Europe, Honey dew honey from the bees collecting the honey dew of aphids and processing into bee honey is considered a delicacy too. But the final product is still from honey bees. Ants are the only other insect that produces a cache of edible food humans can consume. I see that another person has mentioned the lac from the Japanese beetle that is used to make Japanese Lacquer that was quite popular some years ago. I will have to try and find out if it was consumed. I may have learned something today too.
