Insect galls of the Reserva Biológica União, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Abstract

Several inventories of insect galls have been performed in the Atlantic Forest of Rio de Janeiro, mostly in restingas, whereas the other phytophysiognomies remain poorly sampled. The present study inventoried the insect galls of Reserva Biológica União (RJ), a protected area comprising mainly Ombrophilous Forest. Field work was performed every two months from January to October, 2013. Insect galls were collected, photographed, characterized and transported to the laboratory. Adults were obtained by rearing and immature stages by gall dissection. The insects were deposited in the Cecidomyiidae Collection of the Museu Nacional. A total of 153 gall morphotypes were found on plants representing 37 plant families, 69 genera, 55 species and 53 morphospecies. Among them, two plant genera and five species were reported for the first time as host plants in Ombrophilous Forest. REBIO União showed little similarlity of host plant species and insect gall morphotypes when compared with other investigated Ombrophilous Forest areas. The leaf was the most attacked plant organ as expected. Asteraceae, Bignoniaceae, Fabaceae and Myrtaceae, and Mikania (Asteraceae) and Myrcia (Myrtaceae) were the richest host families and genera, respectivey, in number of gall morphotypes, all previously indicated as superhosts by other Brazilian Ombrophilous Forest inventories, except Bignoniaceae. Their great species richness may be related to their great gall richness, adding evidence in support of the taxon size hypothesis. Fusiform and globose galls were the most frequent, green was the predominant color, and most morphotypes did not present an indumentum. The highest gall richness was recorded in June and August. The gallers were distributed among Diptera (Cecidomyiidae), Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera, Hemiptera and Thysanoptera, with the first being predominant, following a global pattern. Eight gall-inducing species are recorded for the first time in REBIO União and four in Ombrophilous Forest. About 25% of the gall morphotypes were occupied by dwellers other than those that created the gall. They comprised parasitoids (Hymenoptera), inquilines (Diptera: Sciaridae and Muscomorpha, Hemiptera, and Lepidoptera) and successors (Psocoptera, mites, and Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Although these taxa were previously reported by Brazilian inventories of insect galls, 12 new association with plants are recorded. The amount of new records reinforces the importance of inventories.Resumo: Vários inventários de galhas de insetos vem sendo desenvolvidos no estado do Rio de Janeiro, principalmente em restingas, enquanto as outras fitofisionomias permanecem pouco estudadas. O presente estudo inventariou as galhas de insetos da Reserva Biológica União (RJ), uma área protegida ocupada principalmente por Floresta Ombrófila. Trabalhos de campo foram realizados a cada dois meses de janeiro a outubro de 2013. Galhas de insetos foram coletadas, fotografadas, caracterizadas e transportadas para o laboratório. Adultos foram obtidos por criação e os imaturos pela dissecção...

Entomogenous galls and their associated fauna in deciduous dry forest and woodland vegetation remnants (Caatinga) in the Northern Depressão Sertaneja, Brazil

“…Cecidomyiidae (Diptera) were the most frequent inducers in our study, as verified in previous surveys carried out in Brazil (Julião et al 2002;Urso-Guimarães & Scareli-Santos, 2006;Luz et al 2012, Maia & Siqueira, 2020. Thus, our results reinforce previous results and corroborate the hypothesis of Gagné and Jaschhof (2021), which points out Cecidomyiidae as the family with the greatest diversity of galling insects in the world.…”

Cecidomyiidae (Diptera, Insecta): richness of species and distribution in Brazil

“…Most gall-inducing species are monophagous (about 90%), what was expected, as most gall-inducing insects exhibit a high degree of host-plant specificity (Abrahamson et al 1998, Carneiro et al 2009). Fabaceae, Asteraceae, and Myrtaceae are the plant families with the greatest richness of gall midge species, as in several inventories of insect galls in Brazil (e. g. Almada & Fernandes 2011, Araújo et al 2015, Maia & Mascarenhas 2017, Ascendino & Maia 2018, Maia & Siqueira 2020. Among them, Myrtaceae exhibit the highest average of gall midge species by host plant species, probably because this family is one of the most diverse in the Atlantic Forest, the most investigated biome, and their gall-inducing species are the most studied (e. g. Oliveira & Maia 2005.…”

Insect galls of the Brazilian Cerrado: associated fauna

“…The frequency of successors was similar to that of inquilines, differing from some inventories in Atlantic Forest areas, where inquilines were more frequent than successors (e.g. Maia et al 2008, Maia & Mascarenhas 2017, Maia & Siqueira 2020. However, other inventories showed similar frequencies between both guilds as in Maia & Carvalho-Fernandes 2016, Flor et al 2018.…”