Plant-insect interactions: gentians, seed predators and parasitoid wasps

While studying breeding systems and pollination ecology of nine Gentiana species (G. lutea, G. punctata, G. asclepiadea, G. pneumonanthe, G. cruciata, G. pyrenaica, G. verna, G. utriculosa, and G. nivalis) in the Bulgarian mountains, we recorded number of insects that feed on their maturing seeds. In addition, parasitoid wasps in connection to these seed predators were detected. Insects are identified and the impact on the seed set of afore mentioned Gentiana species is estimated. Fruit capsules of Gentiana spp. from different populations in the mountains in Bulgaria were investigated for the presence or absence of damage by larvae during the period of 16 years. The seed destruction varies among the nine investigated Gentiana species. The insects whose larvae damaged the seed/fruit set belonged mainly to Coleoptera and Diptera. The larvae of lycaenid butterflies, Maculinea spp. (Lepidoptera), were recorded only in seeds of G. asclepiadea, G. pneumonanthe and G. cruciata. Parasitoid wasps from the families Ichneumonidae, Braconidae, and Pteromalidae were identified, some of them new for the fauna of Bulgaria.