This is a description of different kinds of insects known and utilized by the ancient people of Mesoamerica. Some were beneficent while others harmful. Among the first we have the cochineal bug for the rich crimson dye it yields when crushed; the maguey slug still retaining its place as a delicacy with guacamole; bees were kept for honey, and the butterfly for its symbolic meaning. The harmful insects such as the bed-bug, louse, fleas, apparently were unknown in Prehispanic times, they were brought by Europeans in the early part of the XVI century. En este artículo se presenta una descripción de insectos conocidos y utilizados por los antiguos pobladores de Mesoamérica. Algunos eran benéficos y útiles para alimentarse de ellos o como remedios medicinales, otros, por el contrario, eran dañinos para los pobladores.