Abstract
Lepidoptera species were monitored in a plantation of Eucalyptus grandis in the Municipality of Bom Despacho, State of Minas Gerais, Brazil from March 1987 to February 1992. A total of 547 species were collected and divided in: primary pests: 13; secondary pests: 20; species without defined importance to eucalyptus: 79; and non-identified species: 435. These four groups had a mean of 5231.29; 338.18; 438.16 and 2222.87 individuals with a total of 8229.87 individuals collected per trap. The number of species without defined importance to eucalyptus, and non-identified species, increased during the collecting period of five years while those of primary and secondary pests showed similar numbers in all years. The most collected primary pests Thyrinteina arnobia Stoll and Stenalcidia sp. (Geometridae) showed higher frequencies during the driest and coldest periods of the year, whereas Psorocampa denticulata Schaus (Notodontidae) was most frequent during periods of higher rainfall. Species of groups III and IV increased in diversity with eucalyptus age. This area has a high probability of outbreaks of eucalyptus defoliating caterpillars, especially T. arnobia. For this reason, lepidopteran pests should be monitored in this plantation during the driest and coldest periods of the year, when they can reach population peaks.
Highlights
Wood demand for energy and its increasing use for products and by-products which had been previously obtained from native forest have brought environmental consequences including reduction of forest cover in Brazil (Zanuncio et al 1998a)
Defoliating insects are the main pests of eucalyptus plantations in Brazil (Zanuncio et al 1993a) especially leaf cutting ants, and Coleoptera and Lepidoptera defoliators (Zanuncio et al 2000)
Studies about population fluctuation are essential to establish programs of integrated management of insect pests (Zanuncio et al 1994) which have being monitored in eucalyptus plantations in Brazil (Pereira et al 2001)
Summary
Wood demand for energy and its increasing use for products and by-products which had been previously obtained from native forest have brought environmental consequences including reduction of forest cover in Brazil (Zanuncio et al 1998a). Homogeneous plantations can favour more specialized insect pests because they are different from the original vegetation structure which determines spatial distribution of resources for herbivores (Zanuncio et al 1998a) For this reason insects usually found at endemic levels on native plants of the Myrtaceae family are damaging eucalyptus plantations in Brazil (Zanuncio et al 2000). This has lead to the use of strategies of integrated management of these pests including the maintenance of strips of native vegetation which can increase heterogeneity and number of natural enemies of phytophagous species (Bragança et al 1998a, 1998b, Zanuncio et al 1998b). Information about potential damage of Lepidoptera species associated with eucalyptus, besides faunistic and constancy indexes and population fluctuation of main Lepidoptera defoliator pests and species with higher numbers of individuals were obtained
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