Lipids and Fatty Acid Composition of Dried Edible Red and Black Ants

Total lipid contents, lipid classes and fatty acid compositions of hot-air dried edible black ants (Polyrhachis vicina Roger) from Wenzhou and Guizhou, China, and edible red ant (Oecophylla smaragdina Fabricius) from Thailand were determined. The major lipid components were triacylglycerol (43.4–79.4% of total lipid), followed by phospholipids (6.1–21.5%), diacylglycerol (6.1–18.1%) and cholesterol ester (4.9–13.5%) while free fatty acids (1.8–2.9%) and sterol (0.5–0.8%) were the minor components. Oleic acid (C18:1) was the most predominant fatty acid, accounting for 3 407.8, 9 098.8 and 3 790.1 mg 100 g−1 in Wenzhou and Guizhou black ants, and Thai red ant, respectively. Followed by palmitic acid (C16:0), 922.9, 2 523.3 and 1 511.8 mg 100 g−1; linoleic acid (C18:2n-6), 133.7, 305.2 and 506.4 mg 100 g−1; [.alpha]-linolenic acid (C18:3n-3), 35.1, 138.0 and 52.5 mg 100 g−1; eicosapentaenoic acid (C20:5n-3) was 19.1, 15.0 and 20.0 mg 100 g−1 in Wenzhou and Guizhou black ants, and Thai red ant, respectively. Docosapentaenoic acid (C22:5n-3) was only found in black ants, 7.0 and 7.3 mg 100 g−1 for Wenzhou and Guizhou ants, respectively. The edible black and red ants were shown to be a good source of unsaturated fatty acid.