Agromizídeos da região de Belém: levantamento, ecologia e taxonomia (insecta, diptera).

Abstract

The flies of the family Agromyzidae are herbivorous and known as leaf miners, due to the fact that 75% of its 2,500 described species present this habit. The great external similarity, the small size, the scarcity of taxonomic studies on the group and the lack of conservation of "testimonial material" have made the identification of the species of this family very difficult. The present work aims to: 1- survey the species of agromizids present in the city of Belém, verifying aspects related to their taxonomy, and 2- study their associations with host plants. Mined leaves containing larvae were collected weekly from 6 sites in Belém: Rodrigues Alves Wood, Emílio Goeldi Museum Park, MPEG Research Campus, Federal University of Pará Campus, EMBRAPA and FCAP. The agromizid adults were obtained from the rearing of these larvae in the laboratory. To date, 14 species of agromizids have been collected from 16 plant species, and these miners have shown a high specificity for host plants. The study has also revealed that some non-structural characteristics can help in the identification of the species, such as, shape and location of the mine and pupation site.