Abstract:
In this paper we studied the occurrence of insect galls and gall makers in a Seasonal Semideciduous Forest area in Sorocaba Municipality, Southeast of São Paulo State, Brazil. One hundred and thirteen morphotypes of galls on 54 species of host plants of 24 different families were found. The families of host plants richer in gall morphotypes were Fabaceae (N = 26) and Malpighiaceae (N = 19); the super host plants species were Copaifera langsdorffii Desf. (Fabaceae) (N = 16), Stigmaphyllon lalandianum (Aubl.) Marchand (Malpighiaceae) (N = 11), Protium heptaphyllum A. Juss. (Burseraceae) (N = 10), Serjania lethalis A.St.-Hil. (Sapindaceae) (N = 5). Most of the galls were found empty, but insects of the family Cecidomyiidae (Diptera) were responsible for the induction of 92% (N = 11) of the galls and Hymenoptera (N = 1) for 8%. We registered insects of the order Hymenoptera (N = 11) as parasitoids and as successors Hemiptera (N = 8), Acari (N = 7), Psocoptera (N = 4), Hymenoptera (Formicidae, N = 2), Collembola and Thysanoptera (N = 1 each). Two species of Cecidomyiidae with inquiline habit were also obtained, Neolasioptera sp. and Trotteria sp. Five plant species were registered as hosts for cecidomyiids for the first time: Aloysia virgata (Ruiz & Pav.) Juss., Calliandra foliolosa Benth., Myrcia splendens (Sw.) DC., Serjania lethalis A.St.-Hil., and Tapirira guianiensis Aubl. This is the first study of gall characterization, gall makers and associated fauna of the Southeast of the State of São Paulo.
Keywords:
Atlantic Forest Biome; biodiversity; gall makers; Neotropical region; plant-insect interaction
