Documenting arthropods in select wild and cultivated ecosystems in Iran and Kuwait

Abstract

Studies were conducted on insect fauna in Karkheh Wildlife Refuge (KWLR), southwest Iran. Insects were sampled from May to October. Species of insects were classified into morph species and allotted to the species as far as possible. A total of 2207 insects were collected deploying a combination sampling methods, e.g. netting, beating, hand-picking and trapping. Insects sampled belonged to 100 species, 47 families and 13 orders of Insecta. Based on the information gathered, Coleoptera, with 32 species, had the highest diversity index of H’ = 0.318 and were the most diverse and abundant among sampled insects. The staphylinid beetle Achenium debile (Erichson) was the major species, with relative abundance of 23.9 %. The bug Pyrrhocoris apterus Linnaeus was categorized as the second dominant species, with abundance of 8.4 %. The Shannon-Wiener and Simpson’s indices were 3.286 and 0.91, respectively. Evenness of species was 0.7, using Pielou’s index. Results of studies on insects from other parts of Iran and Kuwait are also discussed in this chapter.