Comunidades de insetos galhadores (Insecta) em diferentes fisionomias do cerrado em Minas Gerais, Brasil

Abstract

Studies on the communities of galling insects and their host plants were performed in three cerrado physiognomies that occur in Minas Gerais: campo sujo, cerrado sensu strictu, and cerradao. Galls and host plants were collected along transects in a total of 3,000 herbs, 300 shrubs and 135 trees in each physiognomy. Ninety two species of galling insects (morphotypes) on 62 host plant species of 28 families were found. The highest galling insect richness was observed in the cerrado. Approximately 75.0% of galling insects belonged to the Cecidomyiidae (Diptera). The highest gall frequency was found on leaves (58.70%) of the host plants, and was glabrous (83.70%). Most gall shape were elliptic (30.43%). A low similarity in galling insect species was observed among the three sampled physiognomies - the highest similarity index was observed between cerrado and campo sujo (SΦrensen index = 0.20), indicating that the presence of rare species of galling insects might be common in these environments.