Abstract
In the present paper we investigated the insect gall distribution along savanna and forest sites in the Floresta Nacional de Silvânia, Goiás, Brazil. The insect gall fauna was surveyed bi-monthly between December 2009 and June 2010. In total we found 186 insect gall morphotypes, distributed on 35 botanical families and 61 plant species. Ninety-nine insect gall morphotypes were recorded in the forest and 87 in the savanna. Gall-inducing insects belonged to Coleoptera, Diptera, Hemiptera, Lepidoptera and Thysanoptera, with highlight to Cecidomyiidae (Diptera) that induced 34.1% of the gall morphotypes. Parasitoids and/or inquilines were recorded in 38 morphotypes, mainly from the families Eulophidae, Eurytomidae and Torymidae (Hymenoptera). Fabaceae was the botanical family with the greatest richness of galls, followed by Asteraceae and Sapindaceae, being Protium (Burseraceae), Siparuna (Siparunaceae) and Serjania (Sapindaceae) the main host genera. This is the first systematic survey of insect galls realized in the Flona-Silvânia, which result in six plant species are recorded for the first time in Brazil as host of insect galls.
Highlights
The Cerrado is the second largest phytogeographical domain of Brazil, occupying 23% of the national territory (Oliveira & Marquis, 2002)
We found gallinducing insects belonging to Coleoptera, Diptera, Hemiptera, Lepidoptera and Thysanoptera (Table 2)
Compared to previous inventories of insect galls in the Brazilian Cerrado (Table 4), our results indicated high insect gall diversity in the Flona-Silvânia
Summary
The Cerrado is the second largest phytogeographical domain of Brazil, occupying 23% of the national territory (Oliveira & Marquis, 2002). The region is composed by many different types of vegetation, which can be characterized in savanna (e.g., grasslands, rock fields and typical savannas) and forest formations (e.g., semidecidual forest and gallery forest) (Ribeiro & Walter, 2008). The great vegetation heterogeneity of Cerrado is caused by variations in fire, climate, water availability and soil fertility. 1. Universidade Federal de Goiás (UFG), Instituto de Ciências Biológicas (ICB), Departamento de Ecologia (DECOL). Avenida Esperança, 1.533, Campus Samambaia (Campus II), CEP 74690‐900, Goiânia, GO, Brasil. 2. Universidade Estadual de Montes Claros (UNIMONTES), Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde (CCBS), Depto. Avenida Rui Braga, s/no, Campus Universitário Professor Darcy Ribeiro, Vila Mauricéia, CEP 39401‐089, Montes Claros, MG, Brasil
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