Metro-Manila
Philippines
On 05/25/11, at 2:05 AM, Theodore Held wrote:
Jason, and others,
I have seen aphids infecting Lemna minor, but never weevils. I wonder
about the nutrient content of duckweeds. Perhaps there are vitamins or
soluble sugars in Lemna tissue. If weevils and aphids like them it
could mean that harvesting these abundant plants could provide food
for herbivores. It would be sort of like a solar power gathering
device. Do others have any ideas?
Ted Held.
On Mon, May 23, 2011 at 9:48 PM, Jason Hernandez
wrote:
Yesterday I was exploring a pond in which 100% of the surface was covered
with Lemna sp. (I rarely bother to identify Lemnoidea to species). At the
lower end, near the dam, there was also Wolffia sp. These two aroids formed
such a solid layer that insects could treat it as dry land -- I actually
watched a Pompillid wasp drag a paralyzed spider across the Lemna carpet.
Looking closer, I saw that many of the Lemna fronds had circular or oval
holes eaten in them. I also noticed some tiny weevils -- each one smaller
than a Lemna frond -- walking about, and I presume these were the
perpetrators of the herbivory. Has anyone studied these Lemna-eating
weevils? This was in the Inner Coastal Plain of South Carolina, if that
helps.
Jason Hernandez
Naturalist-at-Large
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