Insects: The Disregarded Domestication Histories

International audienceDomestication has irrevocably impacted human evolution. The domestication process/pathways have been the focus of abundant research for plants and vertebrates. Advances in genetics and archeology have allowed tremendous progresses in the understanding of domestication for these organisms. In contrast, insects’ domestication has comparatively received far less attention to date. Yet, insects are the most common animal group on Earth and provide many valuable ecosystem services to humans. Therefore, the aims of this chapter are (i) to provide an overview of main ancient and recent insect domestication histories and (ii) to reread them by the light of the domestication process, pathways, triggers, and consequences observed in other animal species. Some of the considered species (i.e., silkworm and honey bee) have been chosen because they are among the few insects commonly acknowledged as domesticated, while others allow illustrating alternative domestication patterns. The overview of current literature shows similar human-directed pathway and domestication syndrome (e.g., increased tameness, decreased aggressiveness, modified reproduction) between several insect species