Abstract

Introduction - The large-horned bruchid Megacerus Fahraeus is a distinct genus of Bruchinae that merits being the sole member of the tribe Megacerini in the subfamily Bruchinae with more than 50 species distributed from U S A and Canada to Chile and Argentina Tera n and Kingsolver 1977 McNamara 2004 These bruchids have been reported to feed only on the seeds of the morning glory family Convolvulaceae with an occasional unconfirmed exception Center and Johnson 1974 Maes and Kingsolver 2003 Recently the larvae of Megacerus flabelliger were found feeding on seeds of Merremia macrocalyx a convuolvulaceous weed in Venezuela Johnson and Raimundez-Urrutia 2008 The weed M macrocalyx produces fruits with one to four seeds and the bruchid was found to oviposit more frequently on fruits with multiple seeds but only one seed was attacked while in some cases fruits with multiple seeds had eggs Oviposition occurred most frequently on seeds still on the plant and only eggs of M flabelliger that were found on seeds of M macrocalyx Johnson and Raimundez-Urrutia 2008