Studies on Diversity, Distribution and Relative Abundance of Insect Pollinators on Mango in Kyarda Doon Valley of District Sirmaur, Himachal Pradesh

Abstract

Diversity, distribution and relative abundance studies were conducted on insect pollinators of Litchi in Kyarda Doon valley of district Sirmaur, Himachal Pradesh during the flowering period i.e. April-May 2019. Collections were made regularly from 5 different localities viz. Dhaulakuan, Majra, Paonta Sahib, Rajban and Sataun. Insect diversity studies showed 16 species of insect pollinators belonging to 4 orders and 9 families. Of these, 6 species belonged to order Hymenoptera, 5 to Diptera, 4 to Coleoptera and 1 to Hemiptera. Relative abundance analysis of different insect pollinators were also studied which revealed that hymenopterans were the most prominent insect visitors of litchi flowers in all the localities i.e. Dhaulakuan (66.78%), Paonta Sahib (54.45%), Majra (61.45%), Rajban (64.27%) and Sataun (64.05%). It was also observed that Apis mellifera was the most abundant insect visitor to litchi flowers in all the localities. Besides hymenopterans, dipterans also constituted an important group of insect pollinators followed by coleopterans and hemipterans.