Occurrence and gall characterization in a fragment of Seasonal Semideciduous Forest in Telêmaco Borba, Paraná, Brazil

Abstract

Galls surveys in Paraná are scarce and most sampling efforts in Brazil have still been concentrated on Cerrado regions. In this context, the present study investigated an area of semideciduous forest of Fazenda Monte Alegre in Telêmaco Borba, in order to contribute to the knowledge of galls in the state. Samples were collected on a 300m long track and 5m width, through active search up to two meters high. Fourty-one morphotypes were found, thirteen of which were identified to the host plant species level, ten according to level of genus, ten to family level and eight morphotypes were not identified. Among the identified families, Solanaceae, Asteraceae, Euphorbiaceae, Bignoniaceae, Melastomataceae and Leguminosae-Fabaceae represented the greatest quantity of morphotypes. Most of them occurred on the leaf (39%), 98.6% are entomogenous. 70.7% are glabrous, and as for the shape, most of them were classified as globular (43.9%). As for the way galls grouping on host plants, 46.3% showed up in isolation, and 53.7% in groupings. This study has contributed to enrich the knowledge on galls in the state of Paraná and for the Atlantic Forest Biome.