Insects Associated with Seeds of Lonchocarpus muehlbergianus Hassl. (Fabaceae) in Tres Barras, Parana, Brazil

• Autor(a) principal: SARI,L.T.
• Data de Publicação: 2002
• Outros Autores: RIBEIRO-COSTA,C.S., MEDEIROS,A.C.S.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Neotropical entomology (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1519-566X2002000300023
• topic: Bruchidae; Coleoptera; Hymenoptera; damaged seeds

To find the insects associated with seeds of a Brazilian native leguminous plant, Lonchocarpus muehlbergianus Hassl., fruits were collected from isolated trees in Tres Barras, Parana, Brazil. A sample of 500 g of fruits with 2353 seeds was evaluated in the laboratory. It was found that 77.4% of the seeds were not damaged by insects, 12.4% of the seeds were damaged and 10.2% of the seeds were empty. The bruchid species Ctenocolum crotonae (Fåhraeus) was detected for the first time in this plant. This species was recorded in Mato Grosso, Brazil and, in this paper, the geographical distribution is amplified to include Parana State. Horismenus missouriensis Ashmead (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) was also observed in the sample and it is probably a parasitoid of the bruchid larva or pupa. Of the 2353 seeds, 4.9% were damaged by C. crotonae and 4.6% had emergence holes of H. missouriensis. Larvae of Tenebrionidae and Curculionidae were also detected feeding on the seeds, representing 2.8% of the total number of the seeds.