A preliminary survey on diversity of drosophila in Raichur university campus Raichur, Karnataka, India

Abstract

A diversity of Drosophila was conducted in Raichur University Campus, Raichur (16.0956°N to 77.4205°E) during late summer and early monsoon of 2024. A total of 250 flies, composed of five species and two subgenera’s i.e., Drosophila and Sophophora, were obtained. Among 5 Drosophila nasuta (5 individuals) belonged to subgenus Drosophila, whereas D. ananassae (10), D. bipectinata (23), D. malerkotliana (7), D. rajasekari (30) belonged to subgenus Sophophora. The diversity of Drosophila in the study area was calculated using diversity indices and the analysis revealed the Shannon index-1.3993 , Simpson’s index-0.72, Evenness index-0.37 and Density index-0.733 respectively. As such, the results emphasize the species composition and diversity of Drosophila in the survey area with D. rajasekari being the most common and D. nasuta being the least common species. Our research considerably broadens the ecological understanding of the dynamics of Drosophila species in the study area.