A Checklist of Acrididae (Orthoptera: Acridoidea) of Himachal Pradesh

Advances in Life Sciences 1 (2): 162-163, 2012

A Checklist of Acrididae (Orthoptera: Acridoidea) of Himachal Pradesh HIRDESH KUMAR AND MOHD. KAMIL USMANI Section of Entomology, Department of Zoology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh 202002 ABSTRACT

MATERIALS AND METHODS

In the survey of Acridid fauna of Himachal Pradesh 44 species of locusts and grasshoppers were collected from different localities and habitats such as grasslands, crop fields, bushes etc. All the species were arranged under their respective subfamilies and their percentage of occurrence calculated subfamily wise. Species diversity was also calculated.

The adult grasshoppers of both sexes were collected from various localities of Himachal Pradesh which served the basis for the present critical study. They were caught by hand, by forceps, and by the ordinary aerial insect net. The net was used for catching insects individually or by sweeping on grasses, bushes and other vegetation. The specimens were first relaxed, stretched and later, they were pinned and labeled. Shannon Diversity, Simpson Dominance and Heip’s Evenness were calculated by SPECDIV program.

Key words : Checklist, Acrididae, Orthoptera, Himachal Pradesh, Diversity.

Grasshoppers and locusts belong to the suborder Caelifera in the order Orthoptera. To distinguish them from bush crickets or katydids, they are sometimes referred to as short-horned grasshoppers. Species that change colour and behavior at high population densities are called locusts. They cause considerable damage to agricultural crops, pastures and forests and are well reputed for their destructiveness all over the world. Locusts and grasshoppers have invaded green crops from the earliest days to present time. Acrididae is a family of suborder caelifera under the superfamily Acridoidea. It is the most diverse group. The family Acrididae has the maximum economic importance because it comprises all the locust species causing damage to agricultural crops. The members of the family Acrididae are characterized by head without fastigial furrow, fastigial foveolae present or absent, frontal ridge wide, often with median depression; antennae of various forms, longer than fore femora; dorsum of pronotum short, of various shapes, mostly with median and laterla carinae; prosternal process present or absent; mesosternal interspace open or closed; tympanum usually present; tegmina and wings fully developed, reduced or absent; tympanurn normally present; lower basal lobe of hind femur mostly shorter or as long as upper one; Brunner’s organ present, external apical spine of hind tibia mostly absent. The Acridid fauna of Himachal Pradesh was worked out by Julka et al., 1982, Bhowmik and Rui, 1982, Bhowmik and Halder, 1983 and Mehta, et al., 2002. Shishodia, et al., 2003 reported seventeen species of Acrididae from Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh. Thakur and Mattu-2006 recorded ten species of Acrididae from Pin Valley National Park. In 2007 Saini and Mehta reported 73 species of Acrididae from Himachal Pradesh. In 2008 Shishodia reported five species from Pin Valley National Park. In 2009 Shishodia and Gupta reported 80 species of Acrididae from Himachal Pradesh.

The specimens studied in this work are deposited in Department of Zoology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, U. P. India. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION In the present study 44 species of Acrids (locust and grasshoppers) representing 32 genera belonging to 10 subfamilies of Acrididae have been recorded from Himachal Pradesh. In this work maximum number of species were found in subfamilies Catantopinae (9) and Gomphocerinae (9) while the minimum number of species were found in Spathosterninae (2), Hemiacridinae (1) and Cyrtacanthacridinae (1). The species are arranged in their respective subfamilies. The value of Shannon Diversity, Simpson Dominance and Heip’s Evenness are 2.828577, 0.1071461 and 0.3702643 respectively. Percentage occurrence of different subfamilies of Acrididae in Himachal Pradesh. ACRIDID FAUNA OF HIMACHAL PRADESH FAMILY:

ACRIDIDAE

SUBFAMILY

SPECIES

ACRIDINAE

Acrida exaltata (Walker) Acrida gigantea (Herbst) Phlaeoba infumata Brunner von Wattenwyl Phlaeoba tenebrosa (Walker, F.) Orthochtha indica Uvarov

OEDIPODINAE

Trilophidia annulata (Thunberg) Oedaleus abruptus (Thunberg) Aiolopus simulatrix simulatrix (Walker)

HIRDESH KUMAR and MOHD. KAMIL USMANI

Aiolopus thalassinus tamulus (Fabricius)

Aplaniacris sp.

Aiolopus thalassinus thalassinus (Fabricius)

Diabolocatantops innotabilis (Walker)

Gastrimargus africanus africanus (Saussure)

Catantops erubescens (Walker)

Choroedocus robustus (Serville)

Xenocatantops karnyi (Kirby)

Chloebora grossa Saussure

Stenocatantops splendens (Thunberg)

Heteropternis respondens (Walker) GOMPHOCERINAE

163

Chorthippus indus Uvarov Aulacobothrus luteipes luteipes (Walker)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Leionotacris bolivari (Uvarov)

We wish to extend our gratitude to Department of Science & Technology, New Delhi for providing financial assistance during the tenure of a major research project (Ref. No. SR/SO/ AS 32/2008) being carried out on Biosystematics and Biodiversity of Acridoidea (Orthoptera) in North India. Thanks are also due to Prof. Irfan Ahmad, Chairman, Department of Zoology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh for providing necessary facilities.

Leva soluta Bolivar

LITERATURE CITED

Aulacobothrus sinensis (Uvarov) Aulacobothrus (Sjostedt)

svenhedini

Aulacobothrus socius (Bolivar) Aulacobothrus taeniatus (Bolivar)

Stauroderus sp. OXYINAE

Oxya hyla hyla Serville Oxya hyla intricata (Stål) Oxya japonica japonica (Thunberg) Oxya japonica (Blanchard)

vitticollis

SPATHOSTERNINAE Spathosternum prasiniferum prasiniferum (Walker) HEMIACRIDINAE

Hieroglyphus nigrorepletus Bolivar

COPTACRIDINAE

Coptacra punctoria (Walker) Eucoptacra binghami Uvarov Eucoptacra praemorsa (Stål)

CYRTACANTHACRIDINAE

Schistocerca gregaria (Forskal)

EYPREPOCNEMIDINAE

Tylotropidius varicornis (Walker) Eyprepocnemis alacris alacris (Serville) Heteracris nobilis (Uvarov)

CATANTOPINAE

Pachyacris violascens (Walker) Oxyrrhepes obtusa (Haan) Eupreponotus inflatus Uvarov

Bhowmik, H.K. and Rui, K.N. 1982. Notes on a collection of grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Acrididae) from Siwalik hills. Indian Museum Bulletin, 17: 48-54. Bhowmik, H.K. and Halder, P. 1983. Preliminary distributional records with remarks on little known species of Acrididae (Orthoptera: Insecta) from the western Himalayas (Himachal Pradesh). Records of the Zoological Survey of India, 81: 167-191. Julka, J.M., Tandon, S.K., Halder, P. and Shishodia, M.S., 1982. Ecological observations on the grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Acridoidea) in Solan (H.P.), India. Oriental Insects, 61: 63-71. Mehta, H.S., Mattu, V.K. and Thakur, S.K. 2002. Orthopteran diversity of Kalatop-Khajjiar Wild Life Sanctuary, Chamba, Himachal Pradesh. Bionotes, 4(3): 60. Saini, K. and Mehta, H.S. 2007. An inventory of the Orthoptera insects of Himachal Pradesh. Bionotes, 9(3): 76-78. Shishodia, M. S., Mehta, H.S., Mattu, V.K. and Thakur, S.K. 2003. Orthoptera (Insecta) from Pong dam wetland, district Kangra, Himachal Pradesh, India. Zoos’ Print Journal, 18(3): 1047-1048. Shishodia, M.S. 2008. Insecta: Orthoptera, In: Fauna of Pin Valley National Park (Himachal Pradesh). Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata. pp. 45-49. Shishodia, M.S. and Gupta, S.K. 2009. Checklist of Orthoptera (Insecta) of Himachal Pradesh, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 1(11): 569-572. Thakur, S.K. and Mattu, V.K. 2006. Orthoptera diversity of Pin Valley National Park, Lahaul and Spiti, India: Fauna of Protected areas, 27. Zoos’ Print Journal, 21(4): 2225. Received on 11.07.2012

Accepted on 30.07.2012