Friendly Insects

Nest of Green Tree Ants (Oecephala smaragdina); biologist
examines colony range and distribution.

Dell H. Grecia
Columnist, Backyard Ventures
Women’s Journal

Before you grab the fly swatter or reach for the can of Baygon or Raid, think of creepy crawlies as part of Nature’s healing system. Here, read on and learn why some insects are here to stay.

Like herbal plants, some insects possess their own medicinal value. Or so says out friend, Dr. Abe V. Rotor of the University of Santo Tomas and St. Paul University, Quezon City.

Bee sting, for example, cures arthritis and rheumatism. In fact, the number of doctors and clinics that use bee venom as an alternative medicine is increasing in the United States and other parts of the world.

The treatment is as simple as introducing the excited bee over the affected area, say, the knee or elbow. By holding the struggling bee with forceps, its posterior needle is aimed at the infected area. Once the needle is deeply embedded, the bee is removed. In the process, the sting with the attached poison sac is torn off, resulting in the insect’s death. (This is the same reason a male bee dies after mating with the potential queen during nuptial flight). The poison sac contracts rhythmically, as more poison flows into the affected muscles and nerves.

A. The Mealy Bug

The mealy bug (Dactylopius coccus), which produces cochineal, is another insect that has medicinal value. It is presently cultured commercially in the Honduras, Canary Island, Mexico, Peru and Spain.

Extensively used as dye, cochineal was later discovered to possess properties that allay pain. It is reported to be effective as well against whooping cough and neuralgia.

B. Fly Maggots vs. Deep-seated Wounds

During the First-World War, relates Dr. Rotor, a certain Dr. W. S. Baer noticed that wounds of soldiers who had been lying on the battlefield for hours did not develop infections such as osteomyelitis, as compared with wounds treated and dressed promptly after they were inflicted.

The reason: the older wounds were found to be infested with maggots. These maggots are larvae of flies; commonly houseflies and the blue bottle flies. The adult flies can detect the smell of blood. They deposit their eggs around the wound, anticipating that their larvae are assured of food provided by the injured tissues.

This led to the practice of rearing maggots under sterile conditions and introducing these surgically clean maggots into wounds to eat the microscopic particles to putrefied flesh and bone. The practice, however, ended with the introduction of modern drugs and surgery. To show how effective this practice was, a survey revealed that 92 percent of 600 physicians who had used this treatment reported favorably about it.

A renowned researcher, Dr. William Robinson, was able to isolate a substance from the secretion of the maggots which he believed to have a healing effect on infected wounds, acting like antibiotics. This material – allantoin - soon became commercially available, as its importance began to be recognized.

Allantoin is a harmless, odorless, stainless, painless, and inexpensive lotion which, when applied to chronic ulcers, burns, and similar pus-forming wounds, stimulates local- rather than general- granulation. Thus, it is of special value in treating deep wounds such as bone marrow infection, where the internal part of the wound must be healed first.

Allantoin solutions cannot be as efficient as using living maggots in the treatment of bone infections, however. This is because the maggots actually eat out the necrotic tissues and kill the pus-forming bacteria by digesting them. In the process, the maggots continuously secrete minute quantities of allantoin in their excreta to the very depth of the wound, especially where the use of surgical instrument is limited if not dangerous.

With the advent of computers and other gadgets, modern medicine (except, perhaps, in very remote situations) has finally shelved the practice of using maggots on wounds, and it is likely to remain there.

C. Cantharidin: A Cure-All Drug and Aphrodisiac

Dr. Rotor explains that Dr. Rufino Gapuz, also a professor, discussed in his class a way to harness and calm down a cow that is in heat so that she can be brought to the corral for breeding. This was in the sixties, when artificial insemination was something new in animal science.

There is an injection that comes from the blister beetle, the so-called Spanish fly or Lytta vasicatoria. This insect occurs in abundance in France and Spain, a relative of the American blister beetle.

The beetle carries in its body cantharidin. It was used as folk medicine during the 19th century for all sorts of ailments and also much as an aphrodisiac. At present, it is used in treating certain diseases of the urinogenital system and in an animal breeding.

D. Ant Secretion

With the decline in the effectiveness of antibiotics as a result of increasing resistance of pathogen, says Dr. Rotor, the search for more potent ones has widened into various fields, which today include plants, fungi, and protists - monerans notwithstanding.

One potential source of antibiotics is the green tree ant, a member of the large order of insects Hymenoptera to which bees and wasps belong. Like their relatives, the green tree ants - locally known as hantik (Oecephala smaragdina) - live in colonies. This social behavior enables them to grow in numbers of hundreds or thousands in a single colony, which can remain active for a long time. Other than its reported antibiotic property, the leaf nest of the green tree ant relieves inflammation when bandaged on the affected area.

According to Walter Linsenmaier, the green tree ant is famed as a weaver ant, not on account of its architecture that consists merely of a pile of leaves pulled together, but because of their method of working. When fastening two somewhat separated leaves together, these ants line up on the edge of one of them, holding onto it with legs stretched full length behind them and, working together, pull up the other leaf with their mandibles.

Meanwhile, other ants, with the spinning larvae in their mouths, weave the leaves together. If the distance between leaves is too great for an ant to bridge the gap, the ants form ladders; these not only make it possible to pull the leaves closer together, but also serve as a bridge of the weavers. The larvae secretion may be extended inward to strengthen earlier ties and provide lining to the brood. It is this secretion that reportedly is an effective remedy against wound infection and inflammation.

E. New Frontiers

Dr. Rotor has listed down some new frontiers in the insect world as cures to various pathogens, to wit:

• Anti-venom and poison antidotes are derived from Hymenopterans. Many victims die of insect bite every year that there is a need to develop a ready source of anti-venom vaccine and antidote. Can insect venom also apply to other kinds of poisoning?

• The secret of hibernation among insects can serve as a model for cryonics science in humans. To cross the vast space in future interplanetary travel, man will have to defy time and aging. One means is through planned hibernation.

• Parthenogenesis is an unusual reproduction of immature insects without the benefit of sexual reproduction. Could this “virgin birth” apply to higher animals and humans? When threatened by lack of food and inclement weather conditions, aphids reproduce even before reaching full maturity and without the involvement of gametes.

• Insects that are highly resistant to putrefaction such as among Dipterans may be the key to cancer prevention and treatment. Blue bottle fly maggots can survive acidity up to 10 percent. Hence, they are found to breed in vinegar and fish sauce substrate without apparent harmful effect to the process and end products.

• The burning and obnoxious secretions of certain insects, particularly Hemipterans, have yet to be developed as repellant against other pests.

• In the case fireflies and glow worms, the substance luciferin emits virtually 100-percent light without emission of heat. This substance has many possible uses in industry and medicine as tracer.

• The high protein content of certain insects like termites, silk worm larvae, and grasshoppers (three to four times higher than beef, milk and eggs) has great promise in the development of high-value food. Protein capsules, for example, can be made convenient for those who lead busy lives.

• Chitin of insects is the envy of plastic manufacturers. It is much stronger, yet very much lighter. Its many uses include the control of nematodes using chitin preparations. Chinese doctors recommend insect exoskeleton as a remedy for a hundred and one ailments.

Dr. Rotor concludes that insects, the most numerous and oldest of all animals on earth, have reasons for their existence. Although they are generally regarded as notorious destroyers, the truth is that our well-being hinges much on their presence and persistence. They are part of Nature’s healing system. ~

Part 1 - Insects – Our Allies and Foes

Water strider is a swift, precise and fearless predator of
leafhoppers, ants and other insects that fall into the
water. Painting by Kathleen Mae Cangas 10, Summer
Art Workshop, SPUQC 2000

Abe V Rotor

Contrary to what many people think, most insects are extremely useful to mankind and the environment. Our world could not be any better without insects.

Without them, we would not have honey and silk, insect-pollinated fruits and vegetables, fish which feed on them, music they create on a warm summer night. Nor can we see the Monarch butterfly that meets us in the garden at sunrise in springtime.

On the other hand, we detest the presence of their destructive kin: the disease-spreading cockroach, ticks that spoil a dog’s lovely coat, caterpillars that defoliate our favorite trees, or simply the buzzing of a pesky mosquito that interrupts our prayers or good rest.

If these negative traits are not enough for us to take up arms against these pests, realize that the most ferocious animal on earth is not the lion or rhino, but the mosquito. Disease-carrying mosquitoes have caused, through the millennia, death and suffering to mankind. It is estimated that deaths due to mosquitoes alone surpasses that which all wars in history have caused. The mosquito’s most prominent victim, Alexander the Great, died of malaria at a young age on the banks of the Tigris-Euphrates Rivers, after a conquest that would have formed the biggest empire in the world.

So here are strategies of war against our insect enemies.

1. Natural Resistance

There is no substitute for natural resistance (those carried by the genes) in combating the pest. Where do these genes come from?

Even before scientists came to the conclusion that resistance (or susceptibility) is hereditary, farmers already adopted selectivity in plant breeding and animal husbandry, as the foundation of the first green revolution.

Evolution brought desirable genes together in a species. “Survival of the fittest,” Darwin’s general formula is the gradual pooling of these genes through time. It also explains why varieties and breeds native to a place are more resistant compared to their non-indigenous counterparts. Wittingly or not, man has caused the elimination of resistance genes. By making economically advantageous agricultural decision, man unwittingly has eliminated seemingly unimportant genetic characteristics. Many of the latter characteristics are carried by indigenous species.

In order to gain from this knowledge, one must look into the adoption of these two measures.

1. Choose plants and animals that are genetically adapted to the place. They have the natural resistance to pests and diseases, and can withstand unfavorable conditions prevailing in the area.

2. Maintain physiologic (involving healthy or normal functioning) resistance by enhancing soil nutrients and proper cultural practices. Healthy plants have less pest and disease problems. The same is true with animals. This leads us to the next practical technology.

2. Proper Cultural Practices

It is not only the season’s calendar that farmers plant or harvest their fields at the same. They have learned that by working collectively with the seasons, crop loss due to pest and diseases is minimized, since the damage they cause is thinly spread over larger area.

The fields are fallowed in the summer, giving the land time to “rest.” During this time the insect life cycle is severed and the buildup of its population is remotely possible. This practice is revived through cooperative farming, integrated with communal irrigation, mechanization, and collective marketing to provide economies of scale.

A key to control pests is to eliminate their breeding places. This is done by uprooting infected plants, or pruning affected parts, then burning them. To attract the potential pests, farmers plant trap crops ahead of planting time. The trap crop is then rouged and burned to eliminate the threat to the oncoming crop. Weeds need to be eliminated since they serve as alternate hosts.

3. Biological Control

As unsightly as cobwebs are, do not remove them. Destroying them will take away natural insect traps built by spiders. Inside warehouses, spiders prey on weevils and moths that destroy grains and other commodities. Those webs also trap pesky mosquitoes and flies at home. No echolocation device can avoid the fine web, making it an indigenous trapping devise, indeed.

On plants, the preying mantis snatches its victim with one deadly grasp. The spotted ladybug overruns a colony of aphids and has its fill, unless the red ants guarding the aphids come to the rescue. A nest of hantik ants up in the tree is an army of thousands. They swarm on intruders and large preys like caterpillars.

Under the microscope one can examine the unsuspecting Trichogramma. Mass production and dispersal of this parasitic wasp has benefited sugar and corn planters since its discovery in the 1950s. The University of the Philippines at Los Baños is mass-producing the parasite for dispersal in corn and sugarcane fields throughout the Philippines.

Bacillus thuringiensis or Bt, has become the most popular pathogens attacking Lepidopterous pests which include rice stem borers and corn borers. When the spores are applied as materials for inoculation, Bt can cause widespread pests elimination on the field.

(Continued)

Shadow of Death Across the Lawn

Shadow of Death Across the Lawn

Dr Abe V Rotor

University of Santo Tomas, Manila

Shadow of death I see across the lawn,

 save the sun all mourning;

    haunting the playground empty and quiet,

save a dead tree walking.

Part 4 . Ecology: Reflection on the Good Life

Ecology: Reflection on the Good Life

Dr Abe V Rotor 

The Good Life, group painting by students of the author 

at St Paul University QC (C. 1999)

There are people who live happy and full lives while others do not. This leads us to look into the role of human faculties. When we talk of human faculties we refer to holistic intelligence. It is beyond IQ. It dwarfs the common concept of rationality. In fact, it defies definitions that scientists thought of plotting into various fields. All of us are endowed with a wide range of intelligence which is divided into eight realms, namely:

• Interpersonal (social intelligence)
• Intrapersonal (meditational, spirituality)
• Kinesthetic (athletics, dance, body language)
• Languages or linguistic
• Logic (dialectics, mathematics)
• Music (Auditory art)
• Spatial intelligence (drawing and painting, sculpture, architecture, photography)
• Naturalism (green thumb, relationship with the Natural World)

These realms reside in both left and right hemispheres of our brain, with the left doing more of the reasoning and the right of creativity. How we live a happy and fulfilled life largely rests on how balance we use our brain, making use of these eight God-given faculties. 

It is also with this premise that we find peace with ourselves and with our environment and ultimately with God. Thus it is not only how much we are endowed with this gift, but more importantly, it is how we make use of it fully and in the right way. Why don’t you make your own assessment? 

Rate yourself in each realm. Analyze your top three. Are you not proud of them? Look at the other realms. You may not have tapped them well. Do you realize that there is a big room of improvement, and that there are latecomers in this world? 

Lastly, let me emphasize another component of peace, that of sharing. I can not find a shorter way to explain it more clearly than to present this excerpt from “How to Live With Life,” published by Reader’s Digest. To wit: 

 “Every human being on this earth faces a constant problem: how to make the most of life. There is no simple solution; the art of living is the most difficult of all the arts. But fortunately for all of us, experience can be shared. Insights can be learned. Wisdom can be taught. Experiences, insights and wisdom of men and women – from teachers to clergymen, housewives to scientists, ordinary citizens to statesmen - who have lived deeply, thought profoundly and cared enormously about sharing with others what they learned have found some fragment of truth that cushions the harsh impact of reality or brightens the marvelous tapestry of living. From them we find some answers to the most fundamental of all questions: how to live with life.”

 Final Reflections.  Let us

• Reflect on re-creating Nature with the image of the lost Eden
• Reflect on bringing the dead tree back to life.
• Reflect that everything in this world is interconnected. Reflect on the lost lamb, the prodigal son.
• Reflect on the new concept of heroes, hope of a tired Planet Earth
• Reflect that our lives can not be ruled by the faceless side of
• science and technology
• Reflect on long life but one lived with noble cause
• Reflect on that sailboat riding on the wave and wind towards a destination.
• Reflect on the multiple intelligence which God endowed singularly to man and how we make use of it in gratitude to the Giver.

And if we think we are too little in this wide, wide world to make any difference, let this verse permeate in our thoughts and heart.

Cumulus 

Rise up from the sea and come as rain,

wake the ponds, make the rivers flow,

fill the lakes, make the fields green; 

the trees a curtain to hide the sun a moment 

of your ephemeral beauty 

of changing faces and a myriad figures; 

delight many a child to draw, to dream and grow; 

and if one day the water of the sea is not enough, 

drink, drink deep from my little cup. 

(AV Rotor, Sunshine on Raindrops, 2000); Light from the Old Arch, AVR-UST Manila

Illustrated Cropping Patterns

Abe V Rotor

With practically all available flatlands now placed under cultivation or made into other uses, one of the last frontiers in agriculture is the rolling and sloping land. There is a technology called SALT or Sloping Agricultural Land Technology which the Department of Agriculture has developed. Other countries have similar programs like ours.

In this model runoff water slows down and in the process is absorbed and used by the crops. Trees bind soil and minimize soil erosion. They form a natural riprap along the contour of the field, functioning like levees or dikes of terraces. The cash crops between the trees are protected in turn from siltation, direct wind and sunlight. This alternate cropping of permanent and annual crops is recommended for sloping lands up to 30 degrees.

The coastal forest mainly composed of mangrove or Rhizophora trees is the counterpart of the forest inland and on hillsides and mountains. It forms a natural buffer against the raging sea, particularly in the event that tidal wave, or worse - tsunami - strikes. Together with the adjoining coral reef and seagrass, the mangrove is the sanctuary of marine and estuarine life.

Converting mangrove into fishpond, which is a common practice, destroys this vital ecological function. What is recommended instead is mangrove farming to expand the wildlife sanctuary, and on the shallow portion of the sea shelf, seaweed farming is recommended, so with fish culture in cages but on a limited scale so as not to disturb the ecology of the place.


Batangas, Cavite and Laguna are leading provinces when it comes to storey cropping. It is because of the fair climate with very short dry season, as well as the fertility of the soil being volcanic in origin. Multiple cropping is motivated by market demand, these provinces being accessible to Metro Manila, the biggest market for farm products in the country.

In this model the plants are categorized by their relative heights, seasonality, as well as their water and nutrient requirements, care being practiced to reduce direct competition between and among crops. Actually this model is patterned after the typical profile of the tropical rainforest, which on close examination is basically made of four to five storeys - which is the design of a pyramidal of multistorey cropping system.


In ecology the rule is to tailor the crops and other enterprises to the land, and never the other way around. In short, don't alter the landscape, don't change nature to fit with your design. Thus, in this model, the land is ideally managed by heeding its topography, water regime, soil type and fertility, and the like. A great advantage in this illustrated model is the unity and harmony of three parts of the areas that lend to the culture of three general commodities, each supporting one another. Here recycling is feasible. There is always work the year round. The farm is a recreation and park at the same time, indeed ideal for growing children, and lovers of nature. You are also creating a wildlife sanctuary in the farm. It is ecological farming in the true sense.


Living with Nature 3, AVR

Secret to a Happy Marriage

The Lighter Side of Life

Secret of Happy Marriage

                                   Researched by Dr Abe V Rotor

1.  What’s the secret to a happy marriage? Find a woman who can cook and clean. A woman who’s an animal in bed. A woman with lots of money. Make sure these three women never meet.

2. What’s the difference between “incomplete” and “finished”? A man without a wife feels incomplete. Once married, he’s finished.

3. I asked my wife to let me know next time she has an orgasm.
She said she doesn’t like to bother me when I’m at work.

4. Why do wives use twice as many words as their husbands? Because they always have to repeat themselves.

5. What do wives and hurricanes have in common? On arrival, they’re wet and wild. When they leave, they take the house and car with them. ~

Acknowledgement: Quotes and Image from Internet