Species Composition of Grasshoppers (Acrididae: Orthoptera) in Mirpur Division of Azad Jammu & Kashmir By ZAHID MAHMOOD B.Sc. (Hons.) Agri. Entomology A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of M.Sc. (Hons) in Agricultural Entomology The University of Azad Jammu & Kashmir Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology Faculty of Agriculture, Rawalakot Azad Jammu & Kashmir 2008. To, The Controller Examination University of Azad Jammu & Kashmir Muzaffarabad We, the supervisory committee, certify that the contents and the form of thesis entitled “Species Composition of Grasshoppers (Acrididae: Orthoptera) in Mirpur Division of Azad Jammu & Kashmir” submitted by Mr. Zahid Mahmood is according to the form and format established by the Faculty of Agriculture, Rawalakot and have been found satisfactory. It is, therefore, recommended that it should be processed for evaluation from external examiners for the award of degree. Chairman / supervisor _________________ Dr. Khalid Mahmood Member _________________ Dr. M Rahim Khan Member _________________ Dr. S. Dilnawaz Gardazi External examiner _________________ Chairman Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology Faculty of Agriculture, Rawalakot Azad Jammu & Kashmir DEDICATION I would like to dedicate all my humble effort the fruit of my life to affectionate parents and the people who are scarifying their lives for Islam and Muslims in the world. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I have no words to express my deepest sense of gratitude to “Almighty Allah” (The Merciful and compassionate). The only one to be praised who blessed me with the potential and ability to gain something from the pre-existing Ocean of knowledge and I am also deeply grateful to His beloved Prophet Muhmmad (PBUH) who is the real source of knowledge and guidance for whole the universe forever. Sincere thanks to my supervisor, Dr. Khalid Mahmood, Professor, and chairman, Department of Entomology, for his guidance and supervision. Thanks are due to Professor Dr. Muhammad Rafique Khan, Department of Entomology. My sincere thanks to members of my supervisory committee. Dr. Muhammad Raheem Khan, (Associate Professor) Department of entomology and Dr. S. Dilnawaz gardezi, Professor, Departmrnt of PBMG. I also express my deep sense of gratitude to my affectionate parents, brothers and especially my colleague Mr. Muhammad Zakria Tahir for their spiritual, moral, proper guidance and encouragement throughout my studies for effulgent future. I am highly indebted to my colleagues Miss. Ansa Tamkeen and Shahid Abdullah for their co- operation and helped during the preparation of this thesis. SUMMARY The adult acridoid grasshoppers were collected during the year 2007-2008 from 12 localities Dadyal, Siakh, Chakswari, Bathar, Sehnsa, Gullpur, Choch, Kuri, Jattlan, Bindi, Jandichontra and Samahni of different altitudes of Mirpur division. In this study 402 specimens were identified into 25 species belonging to 21 genera and two families Pyrgomorphidae and Acrididae. The collection was identified according to the published keys such as Kirby, 1914, Bei_Bienko and Mishchenko, 1951. The measurements of body, tegmina and femur length along with their range, mean and standard deviation are also given. Relative abundance was calculated on the basis of number of individual of each species. The species richness was calculated on the basis of number of species present in each district. In the present study 25 species were recorded from Mirpur division Azad Jammu & Kashmir, out of these 25 species 10 species are different while 15 species are common. Oxya fuscovittata recorded as much abundant species with Relative abundance 22.39, while Locusta migratoria; Anacridium aegyptium; Aularches miliris, Acorypha glaucopsis and Catantops brachycerus is least abundant. The species richness of Districts, Kotli, Mirpur and Bhimber was calculated as 1.38, 1.34 and 1.23 respectively. CONTENTS Summary i 1. Introduction 2 2. Review of Literature 5 3. Materials and Methods 8 4. Restults and Discussion 10 4.1 Family Pyrgomorphidae 10 4.2 Family Acrididae 17 4.2.1. Subfamily Hemiacridinae 17 4.2.2. Subfamily Calliptaminae 20 4.2.3. Subfamily Eyprepocnemidinae 21 4.2.4. Subfamily Oedipodinae 27 4.2.5. Subfamily Catantopinae 38 4.2.6. Subfamily Oxyinae 47 4.2.7. Subfamily Acridinae 50 5. Calculation of Species diversity indices 55 6. Check list of Acridoidea of Azad Jammu And Kashmir 56 7. References 59 LIST OF TABLES 4.1. C. robertsi 12 4.2. A. sinensis sinensis 13 4.3. P.conica 15 4.4. A. miliaris 16 4.5. S. prasiniferum prasiniferum 19 4.6. A. glaucopsis 21 4.7. E. alacris alacris 23 4.8. H. rubustus 25 4.9. H. illustris 26 4.10. A. thalassinus thalassinus 29 4.11. L. migratoria 31 4.12. O. abruptus 33 4.13. G. africanus africanus 35 4.14. T. annulata 37 4.15. C. innutabilis 39 4.16. A. aegyptium 41 4.17. C. rosea 43 4.18. H. concolor 44 4.19. H. nigrorpletus 46 4.20. O. nitidula 48 4.21. O. fuscovittata 49 4.22. A. exaltata 51 4.23. P. infumata 53 4.24. G. rotundata 54 LIST OF FIGURE 3.1. Map of Mirpur division 9a INTRODUCTION Locusts and grasshoppers represent a super family Acridoidea belonging to Order Orthoptera. The term locust is given to grasshoppers capable of forming large swarms, which invade in many countries of the world and cause a great damage to all type of cultivated and natural vegetation. The grasshoppers are cosmopolitan in distribution from tropical areas to highest snow covered mountains with their maximum population in the warmer regions of the world. Grasshoppers both nymphs and adults feed on leaves by cutting germinating plants of cotton, wheat, etc. (Atwal, 1976). The Acrididae with about 9000 species is the largest Orthoptern family and though found predominantly in the hotter region including the familiar grasshoppers of the temperate countryside as well as notoriously destructive locust (Richards and Davies, 1977). Grasshoppers have great economic importance in hilly and rain fed areas where natural green grass and hay are used as major fodder for cattle, for example Oedalus seneglensis was recorded as a serious pest of pastures in India (Bhattia and Ahlawalia, 1966). Bremmer (1991) reported that acridoids along with other pest complex has caused a losses of 24 % and 59 % to field grasses and seed respectively. Uvarov (1977) reported that an adult locust eat food equal to his own weight per day. Batten (1969) reported that two species Oedaleus senegalensis and Oedaleus nigeriensis of acridid genera Oedaleus Fieber are the serious pests of crops in Nigeria. Ambethgar and Kumaran (1998) have reported that a single Oxya nitiduala can damage 50 or more rice hills in its life time. Chandra and Manoharan (1989) reported that small rice grasshopper Oxya nitiduala (Walker) caused the severe damage in rice growing areas of Tamil Nadu. Brachaspis robustus is an endangered grasshopper endemic to South Island (Setven and Trewick 2001). Gautam et.al. (2006) reported that Orthopteraninsects are susceptible to industrial pollution and some of the members of these Orders may be considered as a bioindicator group. About the study site: Azad Jammu and Kashmir lies between longitude of 73-75 and latitude of 33-36 and comprises an area of 5134 square miles. Azad Jammu and Kashmir is subdivided in to three Divisions Muzaffarabad, Poonch and Mirpur. The Mirpur division comprises three districts, Mirpur, Bhimber and Kotli. The topography of the Mirpur division is mainly hilly and mountainous with valleys and a few stretches of plains. The climate is sub-tropical. The elevation from sea level ranges 360 meters to 900 meters approximately. More than 90 % of the crops grown are cereals i.e. maize, wheat and rice, intercropped with vegetables for household consumption. Despite, this much importance of grasshopper's rich biological diversity, specific ecological conditions and geographical situation of the state of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, no interest has been shown to explore the grasshopper fauna of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Though some earlier workers like Perwin et.al. (1985) Mahmood and Yousuf (2000) and Mahmood et. al. (2000) taken a good step for grasshopper species estimation from Azad Jammu and Kashmir yet the area needs thorough survey to explore the rich grasshopper fauna of study site. Therefore, the present study is planned to conduct the detail survey of Mirpur division for the exploration of grasshopper species composition. Objectives 1- To estimate the species composition of the study area. 2- To estimate the species richness and abundance of the study site. REVIEW OF LITERATURE The available taxonomic work on Acridoidea (Orthoptera) is briefly reviewed below. Kirby (1914) studied the Acridoid fauna of the United India and provided the keys and brief descripition of 329 species of acridoids from British India Ceylon and Burma. Fletcher (1919) provided a list of 38 pest species of the family Acrididae from the Indo- Pak. Subcontinent. Uvarov (1927) identified 45 species of the subfamilies Acridinae, Oedipodinae, Pyrgomorphinae and Catantopinae from the undivided India. Bei-Bienko and Mishchenko (1951) described 833 species of grasshoppers and locusts under 222 genera from U.S.S.R and adjacent countries, including Kashmir and Baluchistan. Mohyuddin (1955) collected 29 species of acridids from Lahore. Hashmi (1962) identified the genus Hieroglyphus from Faisalabad. Akbar (1963, 1966) classified the family Pyrgomorphidae on the basis of phallic characters and reported that Pyrgomorpha conica (Oliver) was the most common species