A Report on Insect Community and Their Habitat Association in Daying Ering Memorial Wildlife Sanctuary, Arunachal Pradesh

Abstract

Daying Ering Memorial Wildlife Sanctuary located in East Siang district, Arunachal Pradesh is a river island formed by the river Siang and Sibia. It is the only kind of sanctuary in Arunachal Pradesh which is surrounded by water bodies and most of the land covered with thatch grasses. The primary objective of the present study was to collect preliminary data on the insect diversity in this sanctuary. For this, the data were collected in four habitats viz. grassland, woodland, river bank and Jeep ghat camp area during February 04–07, 2015. The findings were analysed using Shannon index, Simpson index, Buzas and Gibson’s evenness measure, Berger–Parker index and Fisher-alpha index. During the survey undertaken, 44 species of insects belonging to 10 orders and 25 families were documented. Lepidoptera represented by 9 species showed the highest species richness as per Shannon index followed by Coleoptera, Orthoptera, Hemiptera and Hymenoptera represented by 6, 15, 5 and 4 species respectively. However, Simpson’s diversity index calculated the highest species richness of Coleoptera followed by Lepidoptera, Orthoptera, Hemiptera and Hymenoptera. The maximum number of species inhabited in the grassland (22). Among the habitats studied, the highest species richness was found in woodland followed by riverbank, grassland and the camp area. Ceratosolen solmsi marchali was estimated as the most abundant insect species in camp area, Distoleon tetragrammicus and Schizodactylus monstrosus in riverbank, Globitermes globosus and Acrida bicolour in grassland and Mycalesis heri in woodland habitat. Though, it was a preliminary survey species like yellow winged grasshopper Gastrimargus musicus, sand dune cricket S. monstrosus and globoid nest termite G. globosus can be pictured as potential flagship insects in the sanctuary. Besides, it showed the variation of diversity in entomofauna among the habitats indicating habitat specific dependence of the insect assembly in the sanctuary.