Species richness and abundance of Coccinellids (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) in agricultural ecosystem of Doiwala region, Dehradun (U.K), India

Abstract

Present study was carried out to know the community structure of coccinellid beetles (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) in agricultural ecosystem of Doiwala region, Dehradun (U.K.), India during January 2021 to December 2021. During the study period, a total of 8 species of ladybird beetles, which belong to 7 genera under 1 family, 3 subfamilies and 3 tribes were recorded, viz., Brumoides suturalis (Fabricius), Coccinella septumpunctata (Linn.), Coccinella transversalis (Fab.), Cheilomenes sexmaculata (Fab.), Hippodamia variegata (Goeze), Harmonia dimidiata (Fabr.), Oenopia sauzeti (Mulsant) and Henosepilachna vigintioctopunctata (Li). Out of these eight species, seven were predatory and one was phytophagous. The only phytophagous species was H. vigintioctopunctata (Li). Maximum species of coccinellids were collected from site-3 (7 species), then followed by site-4 (6 species), site-1 and site-2 (5 species each).

Keywords

• Biocontrol Agents
• Community Structure
• Diversity
• Ladybird Beetles
• Predator