Biodiversity of lepidopterous insects in a

Pak. Entomol. Vol. 27, No.2, 2005
BIODIVERSITY OF LEPIDOPTEROUS INSECTS IN AGRO-FOREST AREA OF
FAISALABAD
Muhammad Tayyib, Anjum Suhail, M.Waseem Saleem, Shazia and Muhamad Arshad
Department of Agri. Entomology, University of Agriculture, Faisalaabd.
ABSTRACT
The present research conducted to see the biodiversity of lepidopterous insects in cropped and forest areas from August
to October in 2002 at the Punjab Forest Research Institute, Gutwala yielded a total number of 4184 specimens, which
were identified into 19 families and 70 species. In the cropped area a total of 3004 specimens with a mean value of
52.702 and in the forest area a total of 1180 specimens with a mean value of 20.702 were collected, which differed
significantly from each other. The mean values in the months of August, September and October were 28.395, 37.026
and 44.648 respectively and they did not differ significantly. The maximum mean value of 192.80 specimens was
obtained for the family Pyralidae, which had no significant difference with Noctuidae. The minimum mean value of
1.167 was achieved in the family Satyriidae and it was statistically similar to most of other families.
INTRODUCTION
More than half of the world’s known animal species are
insects (Wilson, 1992) in which Lepidoptera is the 2 nd
largest and the most diverse order in class Insecta
(Benton, 1995). Uptil now more than 100,000 species of
lepidopteous insects have been studied (Richards and
Davies, 1977). Economically lepidopterans are of great
importance in larval stages. These are phytophagous and
act as serious pests, defoliators, pollinators and parasites.
Majority of species devour foliage and shoots of trees and
crops. A smaller number bore into stems or attack underground
parts. The saturniids and bombycids yield silk of
commercial value. Some of the adults of many species
are beautiful butterflies and may serve as basis for art and
design. Its presence or absence serves to monitor
ecological changes in the particular habitat. It has exact
feeding requirements to survive and reproduce and worst
suffer by environmental degradation and insecticidal
effect.
The butterflies and moths from the Indo-pak subcontinent
were collected and identified from various localities by
De Niceville and Marshall (1982-90), Bingham
(1905,1907), Bell (1919), Bell and Scot (1937), Talbot
(1939-47) and Mani (1986). The sphingid moths of Iran
and Afghanistan were worked out by Daniel (1965) and
Elbert (1969). The biodiversity of lepidopterans in
different parts of the world (other than Indo-Pak subcontinent)
was studied by Dakinshi and Brussard (1994),
Benton (1995), Price et al. (1996), Hammond and Miller
(1998) and Hammer and Hill (2000).
As previously no work has been done on the biodiversity
of insects in agro-forest area of Pakistan, it is the need to
estimate to what extent man’s exploitation of natural
resources has imparted adverse impact on the habitat and
behaviour of inset pests. Faisalabad, the third biggest city
of Pakistan, is located in the central part of the province
of Punjab and its agro-forest area consists of 120 acres.
The agro-forest area of Faisalabad comprises natural and
man-made forests alongwith some crops like cotton,
maize ad sugarcane, which also act as habitat for insects.
The present research studies were focussed to collect,
identify and compare the insect biodiversity (species
richness and evenness) of lepidopterous insects in the
agro-forest area of Faisalabad, Pakistan .
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The agro-forest area of Faisalabad which consists of 120
acres was classified into two parts on the basis of
vegetation, i.e., cropped area and forest area. In the
cropped area the main crops were cotton, maize and
sugarcane. In the forest area the main vegetations were
Shisham (Delbergia sissoo and Delbergia latifolia),
Mulberry (Morus alba) and Sufaida (Euclyptus
citriodora), grasses of different types and ornamentals.
For comprehensive biodiversity studies, both areas were
divided into 3 parts which were differentiated from each
other on the basis of the presence of vegetation. The
collection from each area was made with light traps,
netting and hand-picking. Sampling was done for five
consecutive days in each month and the specimens were
identified with the help of available descriptions and the
identified material housed in the Insectarium of the
Department of Agric. Entomology, university of
Agriculture, Faisalabad and the total population per
month from August to October, 2000 was counted.
The data collected were analysed statistically through
Pentium-III computer using MState C-programme to
calculate the diversity indices, i.e., species richness and
evenness. The significance in the population of different
species under various families in both cropped and forest
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Pak. Entomol. Vol. 27, No.2, 2005
areas was obtained with the help of a Randomized
Complete Block Design with the following three
parameters.
Parameter 1
R1 = August, R2 = September, R3 = October
Parameter 2
L1 = Cropped area, L2 = Forest area
Parameter 3
S 1, 2, 3……………. Species
The means thus obtained were compared by Duncan’s
Multiple Range test at 5% level of probability.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
During the present research, a total of 4184 specimens of
lepidopterous insects were collected from two habitats .
The collected specimens present 19 families and 70
species of lepidopterous insects.
A total of 4184 specimens were collected in which
October was more populated month (44.684) than
September (37.026) and August (28.395). They did not
differ Significantly from each other. The cropped area is
most susceptible host for lepidopterous insects (52.702),
while the forest area is less susceptible (20.702) and both
habitats significantly differ in the population of insects.
The family Pyralidae had more population in the cropped
area (364.667) than the forest area (21.00) and it was
significantly similar to the family Noctuidae . Similarly,
different families like Saturnidae (3.667), Gelechiidae
(119), Arctiidae (7.00), Geometridae (5.00) and
Epipyropidae (113) had higher population in the cropped
area than in the forest area with means of 1.667, 9.667,
1.333, 4.333 and 2.0 respectively and they differed
significantly from one an other. Also the families like
Nymphalidae, Pieridae, Danaidae, Papilionidae,
Hesperiidae, Satyriidae, Lycaenidae, Bombycidae,
Sphingidae, Lymentriidae, Plutellidae, Geometridae and
Tineidae had mean population of 6.333, 52.67, 8.33, 7.00,
7.0, 0.667, 14.33, 0.0, 2.667, 12.667, 2.333, 5.00 and
10.333 in the cropped area and 16.67, 79.67, 17.0, 23.33,
38.0, 1.667, 27.67, 3.33, 8.33, 21.00, 5.0, 4.33, 14.333 in
the forest area respectively. It is thus clear that all of
these families had more population in the forest area and
significantly differed from the cropped area .The
minimum mean value of 1.167 specimens was given by
the family Satyriidae, which was statistically similar to
most other families.
Table 1: Overall population of various species belonging to different families in cropped and forest areas.
S.
Family
Cropped Area
Forest Area
No.
Aug. Sep. Oct. Total Aug. Sep. Oct. Total
1. Nymphalidae
a. Argyreus hyperbius 0 1 1 2 1 2 4 7
b. Nymphalis xanthomolus 2 1 1 4 3 2 5 10
c. Junonia hierta 3 2 3 8 4 5 7 16
d. Vanessa indica 1 0 4 5 5 4 8 17
2 Papilionidae
a. Papilio polyctor 0 2 1 3 3 2 5 10
b. Papilio demoleus 4 5 7 16 11 17 19 47
c. Papilio polytes 0 1 0 1 1 2 4 7
d. Papilio macham 0 1 0 1 2 3 1 6
3 Hesperiidae
a. Gomalaia albofasciat 2 1 4 7 3 5 11 19
b. Parnara guttata 1 0 2 3 4 9 14 27
c. Badamia excelamatonis 0 2 4 6 7 12 21 40
d. Hasora alexis 0 2 3 5 9 7 12 28
4 Gelechiidae
a. Pectinophera gossypiella 104 109 125 338 2 3 5 10
b. Anarsia idioptela 0 3 5 9 2 1 5 8
c. Anarsia melanochropa 0 3 2 5 2 1 5 8
d. Anrsia melanoplecta 0 2 4 7 0 1 2 3
5 Tineidae
a.Tineola bisselliella 2 0 1 3 4 3 5 12
b.Tinea pellionella 1 2 2 5 2 1 4 7
6 Pieridae
a. Pieris brassicae 11 15 24 50 17 19 34 70
b. Pieris canidia 4 7 5 16 9 11 14 34
c. Pieris napi 12 15 17 44 14 12 16 42
d. Catopsilia femora 2 4 5 11 4 5 9 18
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Pak. Entomol. Vol. 27, No.2, 2005
e. Catopsilia crocale 1 0 2 3 4 3 5 12
f. Colias erate 5 7 12 24 16 12 17 35
g. Colias crocea 2 3 5 10 5 4 9 18
7 Lycaenidae
a. Heliophous bakeri 0 1 1 2 0 2 4 6
b. Aphnaeus ictis 0 2 3 5 0 4 5 9
c. Azanus ubaldus 1 4 1 5 2 5 6 13
d. Zizeeria knysna 2 6 2 10 0 2 3 5
e. Zizeeria maha 0 0 2 2 1 0 1 2
f. Virachola isocrates 4 6 8 18 15 14 19 48
8 Pyralidae
a. Chilo partellus 157 177 165 499 1 3 5 9
b. Chilo infuscatellus 67 107 55 229 2 4 6 12
c. Acigona steniella 27 54 62 143 1 5 9 15
d. Emmalocera depressella 24 26 44 94 0 4 5 9
e. Scirpophage nivella 14 25 32 71 1 3 5 9
f. Sylepta dercogata 5 4 6 15 0 0 2 2
g. Cnaphalocrosis medinalis 4 6 12 22 0 2 1 3
h. Ostrinia nubilalis 4 6 8 18 1 1 2 4
9 Noctuidae
a. Agrotus segetum 2 3 4 9 7 9 15 31
b. Agrotus flammatra 4 5 6 15 6 11 17 24
c. Agrotus ipsilon 4 5 9 18 7 14 22 43
d. Autographa nigrisigna 2 4 7 13 4 5 9 18
e. Plusia orichalcea 4 6 8 18 9 11 7 27
f. Spodoptera litura 9 14 18 31 12 14 18 41
g. Helicoverpa armigera 42 56 74 172 2 5 7 14
h. Earias insulana 96 107 112 305 4 6 8 15
i. Earias vittella 57 50 44 151 2 4 6 12
j. Sylepta derogata 2 3 5 10 4 2 6 12
k. Tarache notabilis 1 5 9 15 2 4 12 18
l. Sesamia inferens 0 5 1 6 0 4 5 9
m. Euproctis lunata 1 3 5 9 2 4 6 12
10 Danaidae
a. Danaus chrysippus 5 6 11 22 9 17 19 45
b. Danaus genutia 2 0 1 3 3 2 1 6
11 Bombycidae
a. Bombyx mori 0 0 0 0 1 2 3 6
b. Eupterote fabia 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 4
12 Geometridae
a. Acontia groelis 4 2 7 15 2 5 6 13
13 Satyriidae
a. Aulocera padma 0 0 2 2 0 2 3 5
14 Saturniidae
a. Attacus atlas 1 4 6 11 2 0 3 5
15 Epipyropidae
a. Epipyrope melanoleuca 110 125 104 339 2 1 3 6
16 Arctiidae
a. Amsacta moorei 2 4 15 21 0 1 3 4
17 Plutellidae
a. Plutella xylostella 4 9 17 30 4 13 27 44
18 Spingidae
a. Agrius convolvuli 0 1 0 1 0 2 5 7
b. Acherontia styx 0 1 2 3 0 5 2 7
c. Acherontia atropes 0 1 3 4 0 4 7 11
19 Lymentriidae
A. Euproctis fraterna 2 1 4 7 1 4 7 12
b. Pericallia ricini 1 2 3 6 2 5 9 16
c. Cosmophila erosa 4 6 8 18 2 4 9 15
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Pak. Entomol. Vol. 27, No.2, 2005
Comparison of means for Localities:
Comparison of means for months
Month
Means
Localities: L 1 L 2
Means : 52.702 a 20.702 b August
28.395 a
September
37.026 a
October
44.648 a
Comparison of means for families
Family Cropped Area Forest Area Means
Pyralidae 364.70 21.00 192.80a
Noctuidae 264.70 97.00 181.00a
Pieridae 52.667 79.667 66.17b
Gelechiidae 119.00 9.667 64.33b
Epipyropidae 113.00 2.00 57.50c
Hesperiidae 7.00 38.00 22.50c
Lycaenidae 14.333 27.667 21.00cd
Lymentriidae 12.667 21.00 16.83cde
Papilionidae 7.00 23.33 15.17cde
Danaidae 8.333 17.00 12.67cde
Tineidae 10.333 14.333 12.33cde
Nymphalidae 6.333 16.667 11.50cde
Sphingidae 2.667 8.333 5.500cde
Geometridae 5.00 4.333 4.667de
Arctiidae 7.00 1.333 4.167de
Plutellidae 2.333 5.00 3.667de
Saturniidae 3.667 1.667 2.667e
Bombycidae 0.00 3.333 1.667e
Satyriidae 0.667 1.667 1.667e
The above results suggest that both the cropped and
forest areas acted as alternate hosts for lepidopterous
insects. The most serious insect pests of the major crops
in experiments were present in the cropped area, but they
also used the forest area as an alternate habitat.
The above results can not be compared with those of De
Niceville and Marshall(1882-90), Bingham (1905, 1907),
Bell (1919), Bell and Scot (1937), Talbot (1939-47) and
Mani (1986), who collected and identified many
lepidopterous families and species without mentioning
the number of species and families and their population
in different localities of the Indo-Pak subcontinent. These
results are not in conformity with those of Dakinshi and
Brussard (1994), Benton(1995), Price et al.(1996), Burel
et al . (1998), Hammond and Miller (1998), Duelli et al.
(1999) and Hammer and Hill(2000), who studied
biodiversity of the Lepidoptera in different ecosystems
from the present ones and in different years instead of
different months.
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