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Insect Visitation Of Peduncular And Petiolar Extrafloral Nectar Glands On Castor Bean (Ricinus Communis L.) Plants In Southern California, Victor D. Carmona

Victor D. Carmona-Galindo

Castor bean (Ricinus communis L.) is a myrmecophytic plant species with specialized extrafloral nectar (EFN) glands that serve to attract predatory insects, which in return defend plant-tissues against herbivores. The EFN glands on castor bean plants are located along the leaf petioles as well as on the peduncles of its imperfect (unisexual) flowers. This field-project evaluates the richness, diversity, and species assemblage of insects visiting EFN glands located on (female and male) flower peduncles and leaf petioles on castor bean plants growing in a Southern California coastal landscape. We detected that EFN glands on female-flower peduncles were visited by an …