The biology of Oncideres humeralis thorms (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Lamiinae) and new Cerambycidae-Melastomataceae host-plant associations

Beetles in the genus Oncideres (Cerambycidae: Lamiinae) are girdlers and borers that can cause plant mortality and alterations in the recruitment and age structure of their host-plant populations. Host-plant association, oviposition behavior, development and insect associates of Oncideres humeralis were studied in southeastern Brazil. Oncideres humeralis Thorms used four species of Melastomataceae as host plants. Females oviposited in forks of branches and their larvae fed on the parenchyma tissue of the forks. Histological analyses showed that these sites were the softest parts of the branches and provided an entrance for newly hatched larvae. Females prepared their oviposition sites with their mandibles, and inserted their ovipositors into the slits to deposit one to three eggs under the bark. We found about six oviposition slits per branch and a mean of eight eggs per branch. The larvae bored into and grew inside the girdled branches. Larval development took 10-12 months. Another cerambycid, Temnopsis megracephala Germ, developed in the thinner sections of branches that had been girdled by O. humeralis and was thus considered a secondary colonizer.