The boll weevil causes serious damage to the cotton crop in South America. Several studies have been published on this pest, but its phenology and behavior under the tropical conditions prevailing in Brazil are not well-known. In this study the feeding behavior and main food sources of adult boll weevils throughout the year in Central Brazil was investigated. The digestive tract contents of insects captured in pheromone traps in two cotton fields and two areas of native vegetation (gallery forest and cerrado sensu stricto) were analyzed. The insect was captured all through the year only in the cerrado. It fed on pollen of 19 different plant families, on Pteridophyta and fungi spores and algae cysts. Simpson Index test showed that the cerrado provided greater diversity of pollen sources. In the beginning of the cotton cycle, the plant families used for pollen feeding were varied: in cotton area 1, the weevil fed on Poaceae(50%), Malvaceae and Smilacaceae (25% each); in cotton area 2 the pollen sources were Malvaceae (50%), Asteraceae (25%) and Fabaceae and Clusiaceae (25% each); in the cerrado they were Chenopodiaceae (67%) and Scheuchzeriaceae (33%). No weevils were collected in the gallery forest in this period. After cotton was harvested, the family Smilacaceae was predominant among the food plants exploited in all the study areas. These results help to explain the survivorship of adult boll weevil during cotton fallow season in Central Brazil and they are discussed in the context of behavioral adaptations to the prevailing tropical environmental conditions.

Onze espécies de gramíneas nativas ou naturalizadas foram encontradas hospedando ninfas da cigarrinha-das-pastagens em áreas de cerrado na região de Brasília, Distrito Federal. Grande número de ninfas foi encontrado na espécie Axonopus marginatus (Trin.) Chase. Do total de 224 ninfas observadas, 85,7% foram encontradas alimentando-se nessa espécie de gramínea. Aparentemente a presença da cigarrinha-das-pastagens nas gramíneas do cerrado estava associada com qualquer forma de perturbação, tais como pastejo pelo gado ou desmatamento parcial. Ninfas foram encontradas somente em áreas perturbadas de cerrado do tipo campo sujo e sensu strictu. As densidades de ninfas no cerrado foram muito mais baixas do que as densidades encontradas em pastagens cultivadas. O número de ninfas/m² no cerrado sensu strictu foi aproximadamente 105 vezes mais baixo do que as densidades encontradas nas áreas de Brachiaria ruziziensis Germain & Evrard . Em dois sítios de cerrado do tipo campo sujo as densidades foram, aproximadamente, 2.273 e 1.212 vezes mais baixas do que as densidades nas áreas de B. ruziziensis. A distribuição e as densidades populacionais da cigarrinha-das-pastagens em áreas de vegetação natural foram influenciadas pela presença de pastagens cultivadas infestadas por este inseto nas adjacências, sugerindo que áreas de Brachiaria são focos de infestação para outras hospedeiras.

Eleven species of native or naturalized grasses were found hosting spittlebug nymphs in the natural grassland areas around Brasília in the Fe-deral District of Brazil. A large number of nymphs were found on the species Axonopus marginatus (Trin.) Chase. Out of a total of 224 observed nymphs, 85.7% were found feeding on A. marginatus. Apparently the presence of the spittlebug nymphs in the cerrado vegetation, the Brazilian savanna, was associated with any form of disturbance, such as cattle grazing and partial deforestation. Nymphs were found only in disturbed areas of the "cerrado campo sujo" and in the cerrado sensu strictu. The densities of spittlebug nymphs in the cerrado were lower than the density found in the cultivated pasture. The nymphal density in the cerrado sensu strictu was approximately 105 times lower than the densities in Brachiaria ruziziensis Germain & Evrard area. In two sites of "campo sujo" form of cerrado the densities were, approximately, 2,273 and 1,212 times lower than the densities in B. ruziziensis areas. The distribution and density of the spittlebug in the natural vegetation were influenced by the presence of adjacent infested areas of cultivated pasture. This fact indicates that areas of Brachiaria are the source of infestation for other host plants.