Leaf-Cutting Insects are Dominant Drivers of Juvenile Plant Herbivory in the Cerrado Savanna

Herbivory is a key ecological filter for plant recruitment, structuring plant communities through distinct insect feeding strategies commonly categorized as feeding guilds. However, current classifications overlook non-consumptive tissue removal behaviors that can strongly limit regeneration. This gap is critical in biodiversity hotspots such as the Brazilian Cerrado, the world’s most biodiverse and threatened savanna, where contrasting open and closed vegetation formations host distinct insect communities and regeneration dynamics. We quantified herbivory over six months in 276 juvenile individuals of 22 woody species across open and closed savanna formations, distinguishing six insect-herbivore guilds: mining, galling, sucking, rasping, chewing, and a newly defined ‘cutting guild’ representing leaf-cutter ants ( Atta and Acromyrmex ) and bees ( Megachile ). Herbivory frequency varied with savanna formation and guild, being greater in the open for rasping and chewing, and in the closed for cutting. Mining and galling were less frequent in both formations. Although the closed savanna formation had 1.4-fold higher overall leaf damage, the cutting guild caused the most severe impact, removing on average 95% of leaf area and severing the shoot in ~ 27% of juveniles through a single stem cut, a previously unquantified non-consumptive behavior. In comparison, other guilds caused ~ 10% damage. Recognizing the cutting guild reveals that non-consumptive tissue removal can dominate herbivory budgets not only in the Cerrado but also across the broader Neotropics where these insects occur. This addition advances herbivory classification and predictive frameworks for plant recruitment and vegetation recovery.