Carabid beetles collected from vegetable ecosystem

Abstract

The work on 'Carabid complex of horticultural orchards' was conducted in the Experimental Farm, Department of Horticulture, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat-13, during the year 2014-2015 and 2015-16 to give a comprehensive information of carabids found in horticultural crops. Carabids were collected by pitfall trap, light trap, sweep net and hand picking from okra, brinjal, cabbage, cucumber and bean. Total 12 species of carabids belonging to 7 genera viz., Clivina, Scarites, Harpalus, Pherosophus, Pterostichus, Chlaenius, and Sparostes under 6 tribes- Clivinini, Scaritini, Harpalini, Brachinini, Pterostichini and Chlaeniini and 5 subfamily (Scaritinae, Harpalinae, Brachininae, Pterostichinae and Licininae) were identified by following published Keys and literature and described on the basis of observed morphological characters. Among these species, 3 under Clivina viz., C. assamensis, C. memnonia, C. lobata and 2 under Scarites, Harpalus and Pherosophus each viz., S. indus, S. inconspicuous, H. rufipes, H. calceatus, P. occipitalis and Pherosophus sp. From Pterostichus, Chlaenius and Sparostes, there was one species of each genus viz., Pterostichus madidus, C. bimaculatus and Sparostes striatulus. Highest collection of carabids were obtained from pitfall trap (46%) followed by light trap (42%). Total 249 numbers of carabids were collected from Jan-Dec, 2015. The species richness, species diversity and species evenness were highest in okra (2.918, 2.782 and 1.054, respectively). Among all the species, S. indus, C. assamensis and S. inconspicuous were relatively more abundant species. The present study may help in proper identification of different carabid species of Assam for future studies and the dominant species can be incorporated in future Integrated Pest Management programme as natural pest control agent.