Faunistic survey of chalcid parasitoids (Chalcidoidea: Hymenoptera) in Cuddalore District of Tamil Nadu

Abstract

Extensive survey for collection of chalcid parasitoids was made in Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu. In the present study, three collection methods (Host rearing, yellow pan trap and net sweeping) were used to collect the chalcid parasitoids from different ecosystems in Tamil Nadu. A total of 358 parasitoids were collected from Cuddalore district. Among the collections, the most abundant superfamily Chalcidoidea was collected using different methods. In each super families, yellow pan trap recorded more yielded (174 of parasitoids), than Host rearing (150 of parasitoids) and Sweep net (34 of parasitoid). Encyrtidae and Chalcididae recorded 40 and 30 numbers of parasitoids individually utilizing yellow pan trap. The lowest numbers of parasitoids observed were from the super families Torymidae, Trichogrammatidae and Pteromalidae (2, 2 and 3 respectively).