Checklist of host plants of insect galls in the state of Goiás in the Midwest Region of Brazil

Abstract

BackgroundSurveys of host plants of insect galls have been performed in different regions of Brazil. The knowledge of species of host plants of insect galls is fundamental to further studies of plant-galling insect interactions. However, a list of host plant species of gall-inducing insects has not yet been compiled for the flora of the Midwest Region of Brazil.New informationWe provide a compilation of the plant species reported to host insect galls in the Cerrado of the state of Goiás in the Midwest Region of Brazil. Altogether we found records for 181 species of 47 families of host plants, which hosted 365 distinct gall morphotypes.

Gall-inducing insects of deciduous and semideciduous forests in Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil

“…The plant families with most galls in the Seasonal forests of Southern Brazil were Asteraceae, Fabaceae and Myrtaceae, all pointed out as the most common host taxa in Brazilian surveys from different regions (e.g. Maia et al, 2014;Araújo et al, 2015;Maia & Carvalho-Fernandes, 2016). Asteraceae as the family with most galled species also agrees with what was previously found for RS State, according to Mendonça (2007).…”

“…Although leaves were the main galled organ, as is usual in other work (e.g. Araújo et al, 2015;Maia & Mascarenhas, 2017), leaves and shoots had similar proportions, as was found by Toma & Mendonça (2013) for a nearby survey in araucaria forest in RS. Mendonça et al (2014), considering different localities and vegetation types, pointed out that in RS there were even more galls on shoots than on leaves.…”

“…The 48 new gall morphotype records (compared to the available literature, e.g. Almada & Fernandes, 2011;Toma & Mendonça, 2013;Mendonça et al, 2014;Maia et al, 2014;Araújo et al, 2015;Maia & Carvalho-Fernandes, 2016;Nogueira et al, 2016,), show how important survey work still is in this region, increasing our basic knowledge on galling insects. This expressive number of potentially new species of gallers reveals that especially in little explored different forest types (as seasonal Deciduous and Semideciduous forests), there is still much to be gained in terms of new data and new taxa.…”

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.…”

Galls on Brazilian ferns: new records and notes

“…Results as these come to change the rather widespread thought that ferns do not have interactions with herbivores. As the knowledge on host plant species is fundamental for forthcoming studies (Araújo et al, 2015), we encourage descriptions of the inducing species, and biogeographic and ecological approaches of ferns. Future histological studies aiming to understand the changes caused by gallers in those plants, and comparisons with the available information about galls in angiosperms are also necessary.…”