Vol. 11, Issue 5 (2022)

Author(s):
Rukshana, VS Acharya, Deendyal Saini and Mahendra

Abstract:
The present investigation entitled “Faunal diversity of different hemipterans in and around Bikaner associated with kharif crops” was carried out during the kharif 2020. The collection of hemipteran insects was started in the last week of July from different crops grown in the vicinity of district Bikaner and continued up to the mid October. During this period a total 2476 insects were explored, preserved, labelled, and characterization and further morphological and identification studies were made. The peak activity of hemipteran insects was noticed in 37^th meteorological week (10-16 Sept). The maximum number (761 insects out of 2327) of hemipteran insects were associated with the crop family Gramineae followed by family Leguminosae and Malvaceae. Twenty- three families of order Hemiptera were identified during the investigation viz; Pentatomidae, Lygaeidae, Cicadellidae, Miridae, Delphacidae, Cydnidae, Corixide, Aleyrodidae, Alydidae, Coreidae, Dinidoridae, Aphididae, Reduviidae, Pyrrhocoridae, Geocoridae, Rhyparochromidae, Tingidae, Belastomidae, Stenocephalidae, Scutelleridae, Anthocoridae, Membracidae and Hydrometridae. whereas, Stenocephalidae, Geocoridae, Scutelleridae, Anthocoridae, Rhyprochromidae, Cydnidae, Corixide, Hydrometridae and Dinidoridae recorded first time from this area. Among these, family Pentatomidae was largest family followed by Lygaeidae, Cicadellidae and Miridae. Shannons diversity index revealed that Pentatomidae family showed the abundance in population followed by Lygaeidae while Simpson’s index indicated that Pentatomidae family fauna showed high richness followed by Lygaeidae.