Mites and insects occurring on plants used as spices from South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, India

Abstract

The present paper reports occurrence of a total of 13 species of mites under 6 families, 9 genera, 2 orders and 9 species of insects under 9 genera, 6 families, 2 orders, occuring on spices plants in the Narendrapur campus of Ramakrishna Mission, collected during September 2021 to April 2022. Out of 13 species of mites, 6 and 7 species belonged to phytophagous and predatory groups, respectively. In case of insects, all were phytophagous in nature. Among the phytophagous and predatory mites, none of those occurred abundantly on any of the spice plants and in fact, in all cases, their occurrence was only occasional. Hence, from the present study neither any pest species nor any potential predatory species could be identified. Probably more intensive study in future may throw some light in this matter.