Abstract

KUZMANICH, Nicolás; ALTAMIRANO, Alejandra  and  SALVO, Adriana. Insect galls from the Río de la Plata region, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Rev. Soc. Entomol. Argent. [online]. 2015, vol.74, n.1-2, pp.47-56. ISSN 0373-5680.

Galls are abnormal structures that plants develop in response to the action of an inducing agent. Gall-inducing insect fauna in the Neotropical region is poorly known compared to other regions, and in Argentina, records are particularly incomplete. With the objective to identify and characterize the gall inducing insects in the río de la Plata region, field surveys and a literature review were performed. In La Plata, Punta Lara, Punta Indio, Paulino island, Bernal, Martín García island, and Oyarvide island, we took samples along random transects for one hour per visit. The galls were collected to obtain adults, which were identified using taxonomic keys and reference material. A total of 33 morphospecies of galls on 26 plant species were listed, 8 of them representing new insect-plant interactions to Argentina and the presence of galls is recorded for the first time in 3 plant species. The majority of the gall inducing species belonged to the Hemiptera order and among them the most frequent group was Psylloidea. The host-plant families that supported the greatest number of galling species were Asteraceae and Anacardiaceae. Fifty-five percent of the galls were induced on leaves, and 33% were classified morphologically as globoid. The need to continue these studies in Argentina is remarked.

Keywords : Río de La Plata; Insect-plant interaction; Abnormal structures.