The sawflies of Texas with an account of world grass feeders

• In Event: Poster Presentation and Judging for: Anthropology; Botany; Conservation Ecology; Environmental Science; Freshwater Science; Geosciences; Mathematics & Computer Science; Neuroscience; Physics & Eng; Science Education; Terrestrial Ecology & Management.
  In Poster Session: Terrestrial Ecology Poster Session

Abstract

Grasses are a hugely important plant family because of their prominence in terrestrial vegetation patterns, their use as host plants by many disparate insect groups, as well as being a major foundation of the human food supply. I examined worldwide ecological patterns of host use of grasses by sawflies, considering the importance of regional distributions, C3/C4 plant metabolism and phylogenetic accounts of host radiations. Host and distributional data was drawn from a comprehensive search of >30,000 taxon names in the ECatSym database and more recent literature. I overlaid these results unto recent phylogenetic constructions of the group to examine host shift patterns. In addition, I compiled checklists of sawflies for the local Coastal Bend region and State of Texas using information derived from Texas museum and ECatSym literature sources.

Author

• Richard James Wilson Patrock, TAMUK