The community of insects inhabiting stalks of wild and cultivated sunlfower, Helianthus annus, was examined by dissecting overwintered stalks.  The sunflower stem weevil, Cylindrocopturus adspersus, (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) was the dominant herbivore in vascular tissues of both wild and cultivated stalks, although infestation averaged 30-40% lower in wild plants, and the rate of parasitism seven fold higher.   The tumbling flower beetle, Mordella sp. (Mordellidae) infested 52% of both plant types, but larval densities were 4.5 times greater in wild stalks.  The longhorned beetle Ataxia hubbardi (Cerambycidae) infested the central pith core of 43% of wild stalks and 55% of cultivated stalks.  Another cerambycid, Dectes texanus, infested 45% of cultivated plants, but was not found in wild plants.  Predaceous larvae of a small tiger beetle (Cicindellidae) were found in 2.4% of wild stalks.  Among Lepidoptera, the sunflower root moth, Pelochrista womanana (Tortricidae), occurred in the roots of 20% of cultivated plants and 6.1% of wild.  The sunflower budmoth, Suleima helianthana (Tortricidae) was recovered from 26.5% of wild stalks, but only 2% of cultivated.  Two gelechiids, Isophrictis similiella and Isophrictis sp. occurred exclusively in wild stalks, infesting 2.4% and 24.6% of plants, respectively.  Two species of Diptera (Ottitidae and Drosophilidae) were found as maggot clusters in 8% of cultivated stalks and assumed to be saprovores.  One cluster of maggots was parasitized by a Eulophid wasp.  The potential significance of divergent insect community structure between wild and cultivated sunflower is discussed in the context of resource concentration associated with plant domestication.