New arthropod-Podostemaceae associations in Central and South America

By

Bethin, Jacob
Krell, Rayda K.
Philbrick, Thomas

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2022

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

1129

Pages

45--54

Subjects

Aquatic arthropods , freshwater biodiversity , lotic invertebrates , plant-insect interactions , river ecosystems

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1129.91398

 

Abstract

Podostemaceae are a unique family of aquatic angiosperms found in river rapids and waterfalls throughout southern Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Podostemaceae are understudied, and consequently, the arthropods associated with these plants are not well known. We sought to expand knowledge of arthropod-Podostemaceae associations to better understand the impact of these plants on aquatic ecosystems and biodiversity. We examined samples of Podostemaceae collected between 1998 and 2007 from Brazil, Costa Rica, Suriname, and Venezuela for arthropods even though these samples were not collected with the intent to investigate arthropod-Podostemaceae associations. We examined 15 samples of Podostemaceae, including 10 species never evaluated for arthropod associations, and found over 9000 arthropods representing 12 different orders. The most abundant orders were Diptera (77.88%), Trichoptera (12.90%), Coleoptera (3.35%), and Lepidoptera (2.42%). We found several arthropods not previously reported from Podostemaceae, including Collembola and Acari, documented several instances of insects boring into plant tissues, and provide the first report of an insect-induced gall on Ceratolacis pedunculatum C.T. Philbrick, Novelo & Irgang.