HOST SPECIFICITY OF HOST SPECIFICITY OF THE LEAF MINERSTHE LEAF MINERS
IN THE LOWLAND RAINFORESTIN THE LOWLAND RAINFORESTOF OHU VILLAGE MADANGOF OHU VILLAGE MADANG
PAPUA NEW GUINEAPAPUA NEW GUINEA
New Guinea BinatangNew Guinea BinatangResearch Center Research Center Madang, P.O. Box 604Madang, P.O. Box 604Ph + fax 853 3258, MDGPh + fax 853 3258, MDG
PreparedPrepared byby STEVEN SAUSTEVEN SAU
IntroductionIntroductionThe leaf miners include mostly moths, but also beetles and flies.
The adults are among the smallest known Lepidoptera (less than 5mm) . The larvae mine through the leaves, petioles, green bark, fruits or seeds, finally leaving the mine to pupate in oval silken cocoons, usually in the leaf litter or soil.
STAGES OF DEVELOPMENTSTAGES OF DEVELOPMENT1. Egg
2. larvae
3. Cocoon
4. Adult
We studied 75 different woody plant species in We studied 75 different woody plant species in the lowland rainforest of Ohu village Madang the lowland rainforest of Ohu village Madang Papua New GuineaPapua New Guinea
Leucosyke capitellata
Premna angustifoliaMacaranga densiflora
Macaranga aleuritoides
STUDY AREASTUDY AREA
MethodsMethods
Collecting caterpillarsof the leaf miners
Rearing adult miners, mounting and drying specimens
MethodsMethods
Morph typing and data basing adult miners
Methods
MethodsMethods
Database and theObservation table of miners
Samples of different species Samples of different species of the order of Lepidoptera, of the order of Lepidoptera,
reared from different Host plantsreared from different Host plants
no of host trees for each miner species
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
1 21 41 61 81 101
species
no o
f hos
t tre
es
Lepidoptera Coleoptera Diptera
Preliminary results
(with equal sampling effort)
no. of mines on each tree
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400B
AR
TBM
MA
NPO
MG
UL
MA
AH
ISG
AR
CEL
MU
STR
IPA
VH
YB EUP
POU
NEO LE
ULE
EPR
EC
AS
STG
AG
LM
YLM
AQ
PTE
SRB
MA
FC
ON
CO
PSE
PLI
TO
SM STR
KLE
MA
DC
OR
BR
EW
AS
PSS
PSM
BO
TLU
NSR
SSS
WEN
DM
AL
AR
EG
NE
TEI
NEU
MA
UPH
AD
AM
MA
PVA
RB
ER TAB
GEU
PUN
AR
TN
OD
PMV
HO
RPI
MTR
APT
CH
EL TIT
CO
DD
RA
HO
NM
ENM
OR
PAD
PSF
tree code
no o
f min
es
Preliminary results
Barringtonia
Maniltoa
HeliconiaPiper aduncum
ConclusionsConclusions
*From 75 selected trees, we collected more than 28,000 individuals ofleaf miners, more than 10 000 from that reared to adults
*Only few species of leaf miners were generalist whilemost of the other species were feeding on one tree species only.
* most of the trees have between 200 to 600 individuals of miners from 1500 m2 of foliage.
AcknowledgementsAcknowledgementsWe are very grateful to our major sponsor National Science Foundation NSF USA for the long term support.
Lastly we would like thank the Parataxonomists and staffs of Ohu bus laboratory to carry out the study of leaf miners.
THANK YOUTHANK YOU