Abundance and composition of arthropods in sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) ecosystem

Abstract

A short investigation was devised by Department of Agricultural Entomology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore in 2022 to document the arthropod composition in sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) ecosystem. Arthropod fauna was collected from sugarcane ecosystem in farmers’ field at Puthur of Coimbatore district, Tamil Nadu at weekly intervals. Totally, 2,310 individuals of the subclass Pterygota were collected and among them most of specimens belonged to Exopterygota. The exopterygota (1,029) were represented by 5 orders, viz. Hemiptera, Odonata, Orthoptera, Isoptera and Dermaptera. Majority of the individuals belonged to the family Aphididae (330) under the order Hemiptera. Under order Orthoptera, Gryllidae (46) was the dominant family closely followed by Acrididae (45). Among these, the dominant species was Gryllus spp. The order Odonata was represented by a single family Libellulidae (38) and the species was identified as Orthetrum sabina Drury, 1773. Under Endopterygota, 4 orders were identified and among these, Hymenoptera was the most common order with 740 numbers, followed by Diptera (237), Coleoptera (215) and Lepidoptera (89). Under the order Coleoptera, 3 families were recorded, with most of them falling under the family Coccinellidae (172) followed by Cicindelidae. Hymenopteran order comprised majorly of ants, belonging to the family Formicidae, of which 3 species were identified. Lepidoptera consisted of single species Ariadne merione Cramer, 1779 belonging to family Nymphalidae. Majority of Arachinda was represented by order Araneae. Under the order Araneae most of them pertained to families Araneidae, Lycosidae and Thomisidae. Neoscona sp., Hippasa sp., Pardosa sp. and Pardosa birmania Simon were found to be common in sugarcane ecosystem.