Insect Visitors to Flowering Buckwheat, Fagopyrum esculentum (Polygonales: Polygonaceae), in North-Central Florida

Abstract

We provide the first extensive documentation of insect visitors to buckwheat (Fagropyrum esculentum Moench; Polygonales: Polygonaceae) in Florida. We visually surveyed eight 2 ha fields of buckwheat in north-central Florida and documented 5,300 visits by Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae)-the western honey bee-and 3,422 non-Apis insect visits, with the majority of non-Apis visitors being wasps native to Florida or the southeastern United States (81.3%), followed by Diptera (12.5%) and non-Apis bees (5.8%). Sixteen families of insects composed of at least 62 species of flower visitors were observed within the buckwheat fields, with the most common species being the wasp Scolia nobilitata F. (Hymenoptera: Scoliidae). Most of the insect species were parasitoid wasps of various arthropod pests, and many parasitoids may also act as pollinators. Our data suggest that buckwheat attracts a great diversity of beneficial parasitoids, predators, and pollinators; thus, buckwheat possibly could be used as a cover crop to enhance biological control of various pest arthropods within cropping systems or augment local pollinator populations.