Journal Article The arthropod fauna of bracken (Pteridium aquilinum) on the Port Hills, South Island, New Zealand
M. J. Winterbourn
Arthropods belonging to 15 orders and 73 families were found on bracken fern (Pteridium aquilinum) on the Port Hills, near Christchurch. At least half of them were considered to be transients without close associations with the plant. Sminthuridae, oribatid mites and a cryptophagid beetle dominated the fauna numerically but their feeding relationships with bracken were unclear. Spiders were also abundant. Few chewing herbivores occur on bracken in New Zealand but sap-sucking Hemiptera are well represented. Few arthropods exhibited well-defined patterns of occurrence at the Port Hills sites where bracken does not die off in winter.
Keywords:Pteridium aquilinum; bracken; Arthropoda; New Zealand; herbivores.
