Diversity and conservation of mutually symbiotic seed-feeding insects

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For plant (legume)-herbivore (seed predator) relationship to be mutually symbiotic, the number of herbivore species per plant species had to be one (independent of the herbivore being specialist/generalist), whereas other factors like the plant being annual/perennial, the size, hardness and number of seeds, the body size of herbivores, and ancestral states were not important. In the most symbiotic combination of species, the germination of uninfested seeds was impossible, the deposited number of eggs per seed was the highest, and the probability of sympatry with other related legumes was the lowest. Thus, since this legume species requires a symbiotic herbivore for its germination and forest rim with few competitors, it is relevant to conserve such habitat for its existence.