Biodiversity of Lepidoptera fauna in horticultural ecosystem in RVSAC-Usilampatti, Thanjavur

Abstract

Biodiversity is a function of the number of the any taxon present, the evenness with which the taxons are distributed (species evenness or family evenness) and the interaction component of richness and evenness. The present investigation was carried out to study the arthropod biodiversity in Horticulture ecosystem at RVS Agricultural College, Thanjavur, India. The farm lies between 10.6796° N latitude and 78.9194° E longitude with an altitude of 426.7M above MSL. The insect collections were done in both Agri-Horticultural crops (Maize, Castor, Thenai, Cotton, Mango, Sapota, Coconut, Guava and some weeds). In the study, a total of 39 fauna species (butterflies) were recorded in horticultural ecosystem under 39 genera, 14 families and 1 order were observed in the horticultural ecosystem. Among the insect families, the family Nymphalidae consists of many species followed by Noctuidae. It was also recorded a total of 11 species under the family Nymphalidae followed by Noctuidae (10 species). Among the different functional groups, a diversity of a herbivores and tourist was maximum and comprised of 27 species under herbivores and 13 species under tourists. Species richness and diversity index were calculated for comparison within weekly collection and to know the variance between lepidopteron species. It was concluded that the species richness of herbivores and tourist were found to be abundant during winter 2018 and summer 2019.