K. Elanchezhyan1*, N. Rajinimala2, D. Lenin Raja3 and T. Abdul Razak1
1VOC Agricultural College and Research Institute, TNAU, Killikulam, Vallanadu – 628252, Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu, India
2Rice Research Station, TNAU, Ambasamudram, Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, India
3Dept. of NRM, Horticultural College and Research Institute, TNAU, Periyakulam,
Theni, Tamil Nadu, India
Email: drchezhiyanphd@gmail.com
Received-15.09.2024, Revised-10.10.2024, Accepted-25.10.2024
Abstract: Hemipteran bugs are playing a major role in agriculture as pests. An attempt is made to catalogue the Hemipteran bugs diversity in various crop ecosystem viz., daincha, redgram and cotton in Agricultural College and Research Institute, Killikulam during April to July 2023. A total of 1189 individuals belonging to 9 species, 9 genera and 6 families were collected during the study. Lygaeidae was the most abundant family (38.35%) followed by Coreidae (30.28%), Pentatomidae (19.26%), Membracidae (10.09%), Dinidoridae (1.51%) and Phyrrhocoridae (0.50%). The dusky cotton bug, Oxycarenus hyalinipennis was the most dominant species which constituted 38.35 per cent of the total individuals. The abundance of hemipteran bugs fluctuated widely over the months and June 2023 was the most active month (n=570) followed by May 2023 (n=504), April (n=92) and July 2023 (n=23). The Stink bug, Nezara viridula was the dominant species in June 2023 which constitute 43.76% of total insects in Daincha field. In the redgram field, redgram pod bug, Clavigralla gibbosa was the dominant species (94.49%) in the month of May. The red cotton bug, Dysdercus koenigii was the most dominant species (98.70%) in the month of May 2023 in cotton. The Simpson’s Index, Shannon-Weiner diversity, Berger-Parker Dominance Index and Margalef’s species richness indices for the hemipteran fauna were 0.24, 1.60, 0.38 and 1.10, respectively, indicating their good diversity in the study area.
Keywords: Hemiptera, Diversity, Diversity indices, College campus, Killikulam
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