Gynanisa maja (Klung, 1836) is the wild edible caterpillar of a speckled emperor moth belonging to the order Lepidoptera and the family Saturniidae. It is a species of nutritional and economic importance and provides food security at household level during its harvesting season. Despite the significant value this caterpillar has, it is harvested seasonally and harvested in unsustainable ways such as cutting down of its food plants resulting in habitat destruction likely to lead into species extinction consequently, threatening food security. Therefore, this study aimed at identifying the preferred food plants of wild G. maja that will help in the definition of the actions needed for conservation of the G. maja moth consequently contribute positively towards combating food and nutrition insecurity. The household survey was carried out in 61 villages from five clusters of Luampa district to determine the knowledge of people on the food plants of G. maja and the structured questionnaire was used to collect data via face to face interview. A total of 400 respondents participated and five food plants belonging to the family Fabaceae were mentioned which include; Julbernadia paniculata (Benth.) Troupin, Erythrophleum africanum (Welw. ex Benth.) Harms, Brachystegia longifolia Benth, Albizia antunesiana Harms and Brachystegia spiciformis Benth. All (100% of respondents) mentioned J. paniculata (Benth.) Troupin as the primary preferred food plant of G. maja while others indicated the other four food plants as secondary or alternatives. Based on these findings, the food plant like J. paniculata can be utilised for embarking on farming G. maja which will result in the conservation of G. maja and its food plant.

中文翻译：

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野生绞股蓝maja（Klug，1836）的牧草偏好鉴定以及改善赞比亚生计的前景

Gynanisa maja（Klung，1836）是一种有斑点的帝王蛾的野生可食毛毛虫，隶属于鳞翅目和Saturniidae科。它是一种具有营养和经济意义的物种，在收获季节可为家庭提供粮食安全。尽管这种毛毛虫具有很高的价值，但它是季节性收获的，并以不可持续的方式收获，例如砍伐其食用植物，导致栖息地遭到破坏，从而可能导致物种灭绝，从而威胁到粮食安全。因此，本研究旨在确定野生玛加氏菌的优选食用植物，这将有助于定义玛加氏菌的保护所需的行动。因此，飞蛾可为消除粮食和营养不安全做出积极贡献。家庭调查是在卢安帕区五个集群的61个村庄中进行的，目的是确定人们对G. maja食用植物的了解，并使用结构化问卷通过面对面访谈收集数据。总共有400名受访者参加了会议，其中提到了Fabaceae家族的5种食用植物。Julbernadia paniculata（Benth。）Troupin，Erythrophleum africanum（Welw。ex Benth。）危害，Brachystegia longifolia Benth，Albizia antunesiana Harms和Brachystegia spiciformis Benth。全部（100％的受访者）提到J.穿心莲（广藿香）Troupin作为初级优选食品厂G.玛雅而其他所指示的其他四个食用植物为仲或替代品。根据这些发现，可以利用象J. paniculata的食用植物来从事玛氏沼虾的种植，这将保护玛氏沼虾及其食用植物。