A Note on the Reproductive Consequence of Fruit Feeding in <i>Mallotus philippensis</i> (Lam.) M. Arg.

Krishna Kumar Rawat; Dayanidhi Gupta; Kanak Sahai

doi:10.36808/if/2019/v145i5/145703

A Note on the Reproductive Consequence of Fruit Feeding in Mallotus philippensis (Lam.) M. Arg.

Authors

Krishna Kumar Rawat CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute, Rana Pratap Marg, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
Dayanidhi Gupta CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute, Rana Pratap Marg, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
Kanak Sahai CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute, Rana Pratap Marg, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.36808/if/2019/v145i5/145703

Keywords:

Physopelta schlanbuschii, Physopelta gutta, Cantao ocellatus, Aconophora.

Abstract

Insect feeding of ripening fruits and seeds prior to dispersal creates massive losses in reproductive success in many plant species. Mallotus philippensis, an economically and medicinally important plant species is very prone to pathogen and infestation. The developing and mature fruits of Mallotus philippensis were attacked by a variety of herbivore insect that damage fruit and seed yield. The aim of the study is to determine the influence of insect feeding on the reproductive success of Mallotus philippensis by studying the injury pattern caused by insect feeding and its ultimate damage to the fruit and seeds. The study was conducted in three consecutive years from 2014 to 2016. Various insect feeders were collected and identified. Two feeding guilds were observed; one that preferably fed on the developing and mature fruits, i.e. Cantao ocellatus Thunberg, Physopelta gutta Burmeister and Physopelta schlanbuschii Fabricius; and others that were present on the young vegetative parts of the tree like shoot, petiole and foliage, i.e. mealy bugs, Aconophora and caterpillars of unidentified insect taxa. The most frequent insect feeder was identified as Physopelta schlanbuschii. Feeding is one of the major threats to the reproductive success of Mallotus philippensis growing in the tropical moist deciduous forest of India.

References

Ahmad I. and Schaefer C.W. (1987). Food plant and feeding biology of the Pyrrhocoroidea (Hemiptera). Phytophaga, 1: 75-92.

Anderson A.N. (1988). Insect seed predators may cause far greater losses than they appear to. Oikos, 52(3): 337-340.

Arfan M., Amin H., Karamac M., Kosinska A., Wiczkowski W. and Amarowicz R. (2009). Antioxidant activity of phenolic fractions of Mallotus philippensis bark extract. Czech. J. Food. Sci., 27(2): 109-117.

Ayyar T.V.R. (1920). Notes of the life history of Cantao ocellatus Th. Report of the Proceeding of the third Entomological Meeting held at Pusa, 3-15 Feb, 1919. Vol. III. Superintendent Government Printing, Calcutta, India. 910-914pp.

Bateman M.A. (1972). The ecology of fruit flies. Annu. Rev. Entomol., 17: 493-518.

Bolkan H.A., Ogawa J.M., Rice R.E., Bostock R.M. and Crane J.C. (1984). Leaf footed bug (Hemiptera: Coreidae) and epicarp lesion of Pistachio fruits. J. Econ. Entomol., 77(5): 1163-1165.

Cassis G. and Vanags L. (2006). Jewel bugs of Australia (insect, Heteroptera, Scutelleridae). In: Hug the Bug â€“ for love of true bugs (Rabitsch, W. (ed.). Festschiftzum 70. Geburtstag von Ernst Heiss. Densia, 19: 275-398.

Chaudhary L.B., Kumar A., Mishra A.K., Sahu N., Pandey J., Behra S.K. and Bajpai O. (2014).Tree resources of Katerniaghat wildlife sanctuary, Uttar Pradesh, India, with special emphasis on conservation status, phenology and economic values. Int. J. Environ., 3(1): 122-133.

Dhiman S.C. and Bharadwaj M.M.H. (2008). Host and pest relationship, host specificity and orientation towards food of Physopelta schlanbuschii (Heteroptera: Pyrrhocoroidea: Largidae). Ann. Pl. Protect. Sci., 16(2): 373-376.

Dhiman S.C., Ahuja A. and Sharma D. (1995). Host plant and seasonal occurrence of Physopelta schlanbuschii Fabr. (Heteroptera â€“ Pyrrhocoroidea â€“ Largidae). Indian Forester, 121(3): 241-242.

Gangwar M., Goel R.K. and Nath G. (2014). Mallotus philippensis Muell. Arg. (Euphorbiaceae): Ethnopharmacology and Phytochemistry Review. Hindwai Publishing Corporation. BioMed Research International, vol. 2014, article ID-213973, 13 pages. doi:10.1155/2014/213973.

Grimm C. and Maes J.M. (1997). Arthropod fauna associated with Jatropha curcas L. in Nicaragua: a synopsis of species, their biology and pest status. In: Biofuels and Industrial products from Jatropha curcas (Gubitz, G., M. Mittelbach and M. Trabi (eds.), Proceedings from the symposium "Jatropha 97". Von DBV fur die Technische Universitat Graz, Graz, Austria; 31-39pp.

Grimm C. and Somarriba A. (1998). Life cycle and rearing of the shield-backed bug Pachycoris klugii in Nicaragua (Heteroptera, Scutelleridae). Entomol. Gen., 22(3-4): 211-221.

Hooker J.D. (1890). Mallotus philippensis Muell. Arg. In: Flora of British India, under the authority of the secretary of state for India in council. Vol. V, 443pp.

Janzen D.H. (1971). Seed predation by animals. Annual Rev. Ecol. Syst., 2:465-492.

Janzen D.H. (1980). Specificity of seed-attacking beetles in a Costa Rican deciduous forest. J. Ecol., 68(3):929-952.

Kadam P.V., Bhingare C.L., Soni S.B., Rathi S.A. and Patil M.J. (2013). Pharmacognostical evaluation of fruits of Mallotus philippensis (Lam.) Muell.-Arg. (Euphorbiaceae). J. Pharm. Sci. Innovation., 2(3): 20-23.

Kumar A., Bajpai O., Mishra A.K., Sahu N., Behera S.K., Bergali S.N. and Chaudhary L.B. (2015). A checklist of the flowering plants of Katerniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary, Uttar Pradesh, India. J. Threat. Taxa, 7(7): 7309-7408.

Kumar V.P., Chauhan N.S., Padh H. and Rajini M. (2006). Search for antibacterial and antifungal agents from selected Indian Medicinal Plants. J. Ethnopharmacol., 107(2): 182188.

Leong T.M. and Lee B.P.Y-H. (2012). Records and natural history of the Ocellated shield bug Cantao ocellatus (Thunburg) in Singapore, with observations on egg guarding, hatching, parasitoids, moulting, feeding and mating (Hemiptera: Scutelleridae: Scutellerinae). Nature in Singapore, 5: 249-262.

Nandhini V. and Doss D.V.A. (2013). Antidiabetic effect of Mallotus philippensis in streptozotocin induced diabetic rats. Int. J. Pharm. Bio. Sci., 4(2): 653-658.

Redei D., Tsai J-F. and Yang M-M. (2009). Hetropteran fauna of Taiwan: cotton strainers and relatives (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Pyrrhocorodidea). Biota Taiwanica. URL: http://psybugs.biota.biodiv.tw/node/385 [accessed on 4 March 2016]

Sahai K., Srivastava V. and Rawat K.K. (2011). Impact assessment of fruit predation by Scutellera perplexa Westwood on the reproductive allocation of Jatropha. Biomass Bioenergy, 35(11): 4684-4689.

Sharma J. and Verma R. (2011). A review on endangered plant of Mallotus philippensis (Lam.) M. Arg. Pharmacology online, 3: 1256-1265.

Sierra S.E.C., Van Welzen P.C. and Slik J.W.F. (2005). A taxonomic revision of Mallotus section Philippensis (former section Rottlera â€“ Euphorbiaceae) in Malaysia and Thailand. Blumea, 50(2): 221-248.

Singh P. and Thapa R.S. (1988). Defoliation epidemic of Ascotis selenaria imparata Walk. (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) in Salt forest of Asarori range, West Dehradun division. Indian Forester, 114(5): 269-274.

Singh R., Singhal K.C. and Khan N.U. (1997). Antifilarial activity of Mallotus philippensis Lam. on Setaria cervie (Nematoda: Filarioidea) in vitro. Indian J. Physiol. Pharma., 41(4):397-403.

Srivastava M.C., Singh S.W. and Tiwari J.P. (1967). Antihelmintic activity of Mallotus philippensis-Kambila powder. Indian J. Med. Res., 55(7): 746-748.

Tanwar R.K., Jeykumar P. and Monga D. (2007). Mealybugs and their management. Technical Bulletin 19, National Centre for Integrated Pest Management, New Delhi.