Entomology, Ornithology & Herpetology: Current Research
Open Access

Abstract

Diversity, Relative Abundance, and Diurnal Variation of Insect Visitors of Litchi (Litchi chinensis Sonn.) at Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal

Deepesh Dubey*, Resham Bahadur Thapa, Sundar Tiwari, Bhola Gautam and Poonam Sapkota

A study was conducted to record the diversity, relative abundance, and diurnal variation of insect visitors of litchi from March to April 2019 at the Horticulture Farm of Agriculture and Forestry University (AFU) Rampur (latitude 27°37' N and longitude 84°25' E). A total of twenty-seven species of insect flower visitors from six different orders and eighteen families was recorded. Hymenopterans were the most abundant insects (61.26%) in five different families, namely: Apidae, Megachilidae, Andrenidae, Vespidae and Braconidae followed by Diptera (26.13%), Coleoptera (4.50%), Hemiptera (4.50%), Lepidoptera (2.70%) and the lowest Orthoptera (0.90%), respectively. Honeybees were the abundant group of pollinators, viz. Apis dorsata F. (30.63%), Apis mellifera L. (9.46%), Apis florea F. (6.76%) and Apis cerana F. (3.60%) on litchi flowers. The foraging activity of A. dorsata was maximum in the morning at 09:00 am, followed by 12:00 noon, 06:00 am and 3:00 pm with 22.37, 14.07, 7.06, and 4.95 No/panicle/5 min respectively. Its foraging activity was the lowest (2.34 No/panicle/5 min) at 06:00 pm. Moreover, foraging activity of A. mellifera, A. cerana, were similar to A. dorsata, whereas the foraging activity of A. florea was maximum at 12:00 noon followed by 03:00 pm, 09:00 am and 06:00 pm with 12.04, 8.66, 3.24 and 3.17 No/panicle/5 min, respectively. Its foraging activity was the lowest at 06:00 am (0.88 No/panicle/5 min). Management and conservation of the pollinators in litchi orchard is essential to ensure pollination and production of litchi fruits.

Published Date: 2020-06-12; Received Date: 2020-05-13