Granivory

Definition

The consumption of seeds as a primary food source; a form of herbivory or, more precisely, seed predation in which animals exploit plant reproductive propagules containing the embryo and nutritive tissue. In arthropods, granivory is well documented in ants (harvester ants such as *Pogonomyrmex*), some beetles (bruchine seed beetles, *Bruchus* spp.), and certain grasshoppers, often involving specialized mandibular morphology for cracking hard seed coats. Granivory can occur pre-dispersal (while seeds are still attached to the parent plant) or post-dispersal (after seeds have fallen or been buried), with distinct ecological consequences for plant recruitment and community dynamics.

Etymology

From Latin granum (grain, seed) + -vory (eating), modeled on carnivory, herbivory.

Example

Harvester ants (*Veromessor* and *Pogonomyrmex*) are classic granivores in arid ecosystems; their foraging trails and nest middens of chaff are conspicuous field signs, and their seed removal rates can regulate plant community composition more strongly than vertebrate granivores in some habitats.

Synonyms

• seed predation

Related Terms

• granivore
• seed predation
• seed dispersal
• bruchine
• Harvester ant
• herbivory
• myrmecochory
• pre-dispersal predation
• post-dispersal predation

Usage Notes

Specialists often distinguish granivory from general seed predation: granivory implies sustained dietary reliance on seeds, whereas occasional seed consumption by otherwise folivorous or frugivorous animals may be termed seed predation without granivory. The term applies equally to vertebrates and invertebrates; in entomology, it is particularly associated with ants, seed beetles, and some orthopterans. Contrast with frugivory (fruit eating, where seeds may be incidentally consumed but are often dispersed rather than destroyed) and nectarivory.