An annotated checklist of the herbivores and seed predators of Mimulus guttatus

Abstract

ABSTRACT Mimulus guttatus (syn: Erythranthe guttata) is an important model organism in evolutionary ecology research. However, besides a few scattered reports of a single herbivore species at a time, there has only been one published list of herbivores that attack M. guttatus. I combined literature records as well as records from over five years of field surveys to include a range-wide list of species that attack M. guttatus. These records included plant populations from the native range in western North America and the non-native ranges in the United Kingdom and Eastern North America. I recorded over 86 species that consumed M. guttatus through its native and introduced ranges. In the native range, 77 species were found. In the UK, I reported 22 species of herbivores while in the eastern North America populations I recorded seven species feeding on M. guttatus. The native western North America range shared nine species with the UK range (mostly gastropods) and shared five herbivores with the eastern North America populations (mostly generalist mammal herbivores). I expect this list to grow as more studies focusing on plant–herbivore interactions in M. guttatus are published. I hope this list starts as a foundation for these future studies.