Seed predation
Lepidoptera pupa in Dipterocarpus obtusifolius
Dipterocarp fruit is eaten by a variety of animals, but insects tend to prefer the fruit of specific tree species.
All of the known insect predators of dipterocarp fruit, up to germination, are beetles and moths. A range of flies, termites and other insects have been found in decaying fruit, but are not recorded in the dipterocarp insect seed-predator host database.
Beetle seed predators
The beetles found feeding in dipterocarp fruit are mainly weevils (Curculionoidea). In all cases it is the larva that feeds on the fruit, but when the eggs are laid is dependent on the species of weevil.
- Members of the genera Alcidodes, Nanophyes, Diplophyes and Damnux lay eggs in the young fruit. Adults may emerge from the fruit before it dispersed (Nanophyes, Damnux, Diplophyes), or after dispersal (Alcidodes).
- Niphades in Borneo lays its eggs either just before fruitfall or just after it, and the larvae develop in the base of the fruit feeding on the cotyledons, even while the seedling is developing.
- Coccotrypes, Sitophilus and possibly Trochorhopalus, are post-dispersal seed predators, laying in the fruit once it has fallen.