**3. Results**

#### *3.1. Abundance and Diversity of Phytophagous Insects*

The plant samplings throughout the crop phenology at the field site in La Molina yielded 24 morphospecies of phytophagous species, among which *M. euphorbiae*, *E. melanocampta*, *F. occidentalis*, *L. huidobrensis* and *H. chenopodii* encompassed 99.1% of the total abundance of herbivorous insects. At the field site in Majes, 12 morphospecies of phytophagous insects were found, including *F. occidentalis*, *Myzus* sp. and *Macrosiphum* sp., encompassing 99.2% of the total abundance of herbivorous insects. The hemipteran pests *L. hyalinus* and *N. simulans*, which were recently reported to be causing severe damage in newly exploited areas for quinoa production [7,8], were found at low densities at these two localities. Finally, in San Lorenzo, 16 morphospecies of phytophagous insects were found, with *F. occidentalis*, *E. melanocampta*, *Myzus* sp., *Macrosiphum* sp. and *H. chenopodii* accounting for up to 97.3% of the total abundance of herbivores. At this locality, *A. subannulatus*, *D. sicuanica* and *Epitrix* sp., which are mentioned in the literature as minor pests of quinoa [7,10,23], were collected in very small numbers.

Rank–abundance curves of phytophagous insects were built as a function of their abundance in the samplings at each field site (Figure 2). Comparatively, the curve for the San Lorenzo field site (SL) has a less pronounced slope than the curves for the other sites. This suggests that the phytophagous species are more evenly distributed at this locality or there was a lower dominance of the most abundant pests as compared to at the La Molina and Majes field sites, which were characterized by a higher dominance of certain taxa.

**Figure 2.** Rank–abundance curve of the phytophagous insects that infested the quinoa crop in San Lorenzo, Majes and La Molina (log series distribution).

#### *3.2. Phenology of Phytophagous Insects of Economic Importance*
