Abstract
Abstract: Insect galls host a rich and diverse fauna of secondary dwellers, which compose the associated fauna. In Brazil, many inventories of insect galls in Cerrado areas have recorded secondary dwellers. These records were scattered in several papers. This study gathered literature data to provide an overview of the arthropod fauna associated with insect galls in the Brazilian Cerrado. We searched for scientific publications in online academic databases and retrieved 16 papers with data on the secondary dwellers. We limited our search to the period from 1988 to 2020. We updated the name of plant species and verified endemism and geographic distribution in Flora do Brasil 2020. We provided plant species uses based on the Tropical Useful Plants 2014. We found 163 gall morphotypes with secondary dwellers (16.8% of the total of gall morphotypes of the Brazilian Cerrado) on 94 plant species in 37 families. Asteraceae, Fabaceae, Myrtaceae, and Malpighiaceae exhibited the greatest number of records. These are the richest families in insect galls in the Brazilian Cerrado. Most arthropod fauna were recorded in galls of Cecidomyiidae (Diptera). Most records were in leaf galls, the predominant galled organ. Parasitoids were more frequent than successors, inquilines, and predators. Eulophidae and Eurytomidae were the most frequent parasitoid families. Inquilines were represented by Coleoptera, Diplopoda, Diptera, Hemiptera, Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera, Psocoptera, and Thysanoptera; successors by Acari, Araneae, Cecidomyiidae (Diptera), Coleoptera, Collembola, and Formicidae (Hymenoptera), whereas predators by Pseudoscorpiones and Diptera. Most records were presented in suprageneric categories, showing that the taxonomic knowledge is very deficient. 29 plant species are endemic to Brazil and totaled 45 gall morphotypes with secondary dwellers; 46 plant species are useful and host secondary dwellers in 62 gall morphotypes. These data add ecological and economic importance to these arthropods.
Highlights
Galls are a classic example of niche construction (Gilbert 2009)
The present study aims to compile data on arthropods associated with insect galls in the Brazilian Cerrado and answer the following questions: i) which guilds are represented? ii) which is the most frequent? iii) which is the most diverse? iv) what is the composition of each one? v) which plants host these guilds? vi) how many gall morphotypes host them? vii) do these guilds occur in endemic or useful hosts? vii) which galling insects stand out for sheltering the secondary fauna more often?
We searched for papers in online academic databases: ISI Web of Knowledge, Google Scholar, Scielo, Scopus and JStor, using the terms “insect gall”/”galhas de insetos”, “inventories”/”inventários, and “Brazilian Savanah”/“Cerrado. We found 32 papers, 16 of them with data on the associated fauna
Summary
Galls are a classic example of niche construction (Gilbert 2009). They represent discrete microhabitats that support relatively closed communities of specialist inhabitants (Shorthouse & Rohfritsch 1992, Williams 1994, Crespi et al 1997). Galls are abnormal plant growths induced by various parasitic organisms, mainly insects. Galls act as a ‘‘nutrient sink’’ into which the plant translocates concentrated soluble nutrients for the growth of those cells. These nutrients, which are especially rich in amino acids, are used by the gall-inducer for its own growth (White 2010)
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