Insects associated with the fruit of <i>Syzygium paniculatum</i> (Magenta Lillypilly) and <i>Syzygium australe</i> (Brush Cherry)

Abstract

Abstract Forty‐one insect species and morphospecies belonging to eight trophic guilds were reared from the fruit of cultivated and wild Syzygium paniculatum and Szygium australe (Myrtaceae) trees in Sydney and on the Central Coast of NSW. Species recovered from S. australe were primarily a subset of those recovered from S. paniculatum . Of the most commonly sampled species four were seed predators: Sigastus msp.1 (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), Anselmella miltoni (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae), Megastigmus sp. (Hymenoptera: Torymidae) and Coscinoptycha improbana (Lepidoptera: Carposinidae). Megastigmus also appears to be an inquiline associated with A. miltoni. Coscinoptycha improbana is primarily a frugivore. The frugivore Bactrocera jarvisi (Diptera: Tephritidae) and the saprophage Ectopsocus msp.1 (Psocoptera: Ectopsocidae) were also relatively abundant in samples. The rearing of C. improbana , A. miltoni and B. jarvisi as well as the less commonly sampled Acroceuthes metaxanthana (Lepidoptera, Tortricidae, Tortricinae), three morphospecies of Holocola (Lepidoptera, Tortricidae) and Isotenes miserana (Lepidoptera, Tortricidae) from S. paniculatum and S. australe constitute new host records for these insects.