Insect herbivores as potential causes of mortality and adaptation in gallforming insects

Summary

Recent studies have suggested that plant galls benefit only the insects living in them and not the host plants, and that galls are induced by insects primarily to improve the plant as a microenvironment or a food source. The potential advantage to insects of protection from their predators and parasitoids has been considered unclear and perhaps minor in importance. However, the potential threat to gallforming insects from other insect herbivores has usually been relatively neglected. This paper notes literature and observations which suggest that herbivores may either consume or be deterred by galls. Even soft leaf galls produced by Hormaphis and Phylloxera aphids appeared to deter some herbivores in the field. The threat of herbivory to galls might help explain general patterns of gall ecology and morphology, and deserves closer attention.