Abstract
Abstract: The Pantanal Biome occupies 20% of the Brazilian territory extending its distribution over two Brazilian States, Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul. This Biome is one of Brazil's poorly known regions concerning insect gall and their interactions with host plants. In this study, we characterized for the first time the gall morphology, identified host plants and the gall makers from an area of Brazilian wetlands from Mato Grosso State, known as Pantanal Matogrossense. We sampled Pantanal Biome areas in Poconé municipality, along the Transpantaneira Road, Mato Grosso State, Brazil, in two expeditions, July 2012 and January 2013, with a total effort of 2 hours. We characterized 91 morphotypes of insect galls in 54 host plant species; 28 gall makers in 24 host plant species; the richest host plant families are Fabaceae, Myrtaceae, and Sapindaceae. Psidium guineense Sw. is the super host species. This area in Pantanal Matogrossense is the second in the richness of gall morphotypes (N=91) and average morphotypes/plant species (1.7), comparing phytophysiognomies. Additionally, 15 plant species are new record as host in galler-host plant interaction in the world. This number represents 30% of the total of host plant species sampled in Poconé. This inventory is new knowledge to the Pantanal Matogrossense and representing a unique testimony of insect-plant interactions consumed by the unprecedented fire that occurred in Pantanal Biome in the dry season of 2020.
Highlights
The Pantanal biome occupies 20% of the Brazilian territory (Junk et al 2013), extending its distribution over two Brazilian States, Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul
We found 91 morphotypes of insect galls in 54 host plant species from 39 genera and 19 families (Table 1 and Figs. 2–5)
The leaves are the organ most attacked by the gall makers in all environments (Araújo et al 2019), except for few studies with stems as the most affected organ always associated with dry environments (Veldtman & McGeoch 2003, Fernandes et al 2002, Carneiro et al 2009, Coelho et al 2013, Toma & Mendonça 2013, Kuzmanich et al 2018)
Summary
The Pantanal biome occupies 20% of the Brazilian territory (Junk et al 2013), extending its distribution over two Brazilian States, Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul. Its vegetation is highly influenced by Chaco Biome (Pott et al 2011) It is considered a hotspot of biodiversity, with more than 2,000 species of vascular plants (Pott et al 2011) and more than 2,000 species of animals, except terrestrial invertebrates (Junk et al 2006), with the seasonal flood-pulsing harboring habitat specialization (e.g., morphological, anatomical and physiological adaptations) (Junk et al 2013). Only two have been carried out in the Pantanal biome (Julião et al 2002, Urso-Guimarães et al 2017). Both in the State of Mato Grosso do Sul, which is strongly influenced by the Cerrado biome. In Corumbá/Porto Murtinho, Fabaceae was the richest plant family and Serjania sp. the super host species (Urso-Guimarães et al 2017)
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