Species richness and diversity of vespidae (insecta: Hymenoptera) of swat khyber pakhtunkhwa Pakistan

Abstract

Keeping in view the agricultural importance, Vespidae is an important family of the order Hymenoptera (Insecta). The objective of the study was to find out the number of species of the family and to mark the distribution of the species of the family Vespidae in various locations of the study area. The wasps were collected with the help of hand net through active search, killed with insecticide and preserved in insect boxes having naphthalene balls as preservatives. Species richness were calculated using Margalef and Menhinick indices while species diversity was calculated using Simpson diversity index. The most abundant subfamily was Polistinae with 65% abundance while the least abundant was the Eumeninae with 2% abundance. However, the most diverse and species rich subfamily is Eumeninae with a Simpson (1-D) value of 0.803, Menhinick and Margalef indices values of 1.540 and 2.543, respectively. Among the seven tehsils, Kabal is the most species rich and diverse having Margalef value 2.408, Menhinick Value 0.514 and Simpson (1-D) value 0.777 while Bahrain is the least species rich and having no diversity. The Margalef, Menhinick and Simpson (1-D) values for tehsil Bahrain are 0, 0.333, and 0, respectively. The Polistinae is the dominant subfamily in the area and can be used as biocontrol agent for various pests of agricultural importance.