Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies 2017; 5(6): 1612-1621 E-ISSN: 2320-7078 P-ISSN: 2349-6800 Macro moths of Tinsukia district, Assam: A JEZS 2017; 5(6): 1612-1621 © 2017 JEZS provisional inventory Received: 10-09-2017 Accepted: 11-10-2017 Subhasish Arandhara Subhasish Arandhara, Suman Barman, Rubul Tanti and Abhijit Boruah Upor Ubon Village, Kakopather, Tinsukia, Assam, India Abstract Suman Barman This list reports 333 macro moth species for the Tinsukia district of Assam, India. The moths were Department of Wildlife Sciences, captured by light trapping as well as by opportunistic sighting across 37 sites in the district for a period of Gauhati University, Assam, three years from 2013-2016. Identification was based on material and visual examination of the samples India with relevant literature and online databases. The list includes the family, subfamily, tribes, scientific name, the author and year of publication of description for each identified species. 60 species in this Rubul Tanti inventory remain confirmed up to genus. Department of Wildlife Biology, A.V.C. College, Tamil Nadu, Keywords: Macro moths, inventory, Lepidoptera, Tinsukia, Assam India Introduction Abhijit Boruah Upor Ubon Village, Kakopather, The order Lepidoptera, a major group of plant-eating insects and thus, from the agricultural Tinsukia, Assam, India and forestry point of view they are of immense importance [1]. About 134 families comprising 157, 000 species of living Lepidoptera, including the butterflies has been documented globally [2], holding around 17% of the world's known insect fauna. Estimates, however, suggest more species in the order [3]. Naturalists for convenience categorised moths into two informal groups, the macro moths having larger physical size and recency in evolution and micro moths [4] that are smaller in size and primitive in origin . Tinsukia district situated on the eastern most part of Assam is exceptionally variable, both geographically and biologically. Covering almost 3790 sq. km, the district spans 27°22' to 27°95'N and 95°00' to 96°00'E. Subtropical warm and humid climate prevails with temperature ranging from 8.4° C to 39 °C. Topographically the district is characterised by (1) the flood prone banks of the rivers Brahmaputra, Luhit, Buri Dehing and Dibru, (2) the plains and (3) the foot hill regions bordering Arunachal Pradesh [5, 6]. Tropical evergreen, tropical semi- evergreen, and mixed deciduous forests form a complex fragmented mosaic covering about 1315.95 sq. km(s) of the district [7]. In the recent years, urbanization in the district is well- defined by agglomeration of human settlements, while, agriculture and commercial utilization of lands are under expansion. At present 34.96% of the district is utilized as agricultural land. Cultivation of rice, sugarcane, and other vegetables has long been practiced, but, these lands are slowly replaced into commercial cultivation of tea, linked to a large number of tea gardens. With the pace of development, the natural habitats are altered and considered for the [8, 9] ecological imbalance between the biotic communities . In order to monitor these aspects, [10] lower taxa such as the insects have been long used as a key group for ecological research . There is a need for species inventories especially for insect taxa of this district, such that the trend of biodiversity documentation can be further taken forward towards ecological research and conservation planning for the species as well as habitats concerned. The literature on study and documentation of moths in this area is scarce. Hampson G.F., Bell th and Scott documented moths from this region in 19-20 century and described in the books on Fauna of British India moths [11-14]. In the past decade, a small number of scattered studies undertaken were published in form of academic dissertations, journals, and books [15- 17] Correspondence This study aimed at documenting the macro moths of the district aided by light traps, Subhasish Arandhara Upor Ubon Village, Kakopather, collecting equipment and photographs in a period of three consecutive years from 2013-2016. Tinsukia, Assam, India ~ 1612 ~ Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies Fig 1: Map of (A) India, (B) Assam and (C) Tinsukia district with administrative blocks, blue points symbolize sampling sites; overlapped points represent more than one site Materials and Methods accuracy in Quantum GIS [18] by entering latitude, longitudes Study Area: The species were recorded from the and elevation of sampling recorded in a Global Positioning administrative block regions of Kakopather, Saikhowa, System (GPS). Hapjan, Tinsukia, Itakhuli and Margherita. A total of 37 sites were visited during the study period comprising four habitat Sampling and collection: Sampling was carried out using types; (1) Disturbed urban lands confined to Tinsukia, Doom 6x4 feet white sheet attached to two vertical poles.160w Dooma, Margherita characterised by agglomerative human mercury vapour bulb centered to spread white sheet connected settlements, ornamental trees, commercial tea plantations with to 240v mains wherever accessible or else a portable 9w oil drilling and open cast coal mining operations, (2) Semi actinic-UV tube powered by a 12 v battery is used for remote natural habitats confined to Kakopather, Doom Dooma, areas where mains were inaccessible. The lights were started Philobari, Jagun, Guijan, Digboi characterised by human from 17:00 hours to 04:00 hours and visited in intervals to settlements that share forest edges with scattered forest trees, ensure species aggregated do not escape the recording event. ornamental plants and agriculture lands, (3) Degraded The trap coordinates were taken as well as elevation and evergreen forests confined to Digboi and Margherita habitat type was noted. Once the moths aggregated into the characterised by sparse Dipterocarpus trees altered with sheet, they were photographed. Specimens collected as increasing deforestation and (4) Tropical evergreen forests vouchers outside the protected areas were curated in confined to Saraipung Range characterized by dense Department of Zoology, Digboi College, Assam and Dipterocarpus, Mesua, Shorea trees with modest deforestation deposited as personal collections. and industry experimental activities. Identification: Moths were identified based on available Mapping the study area: A district shapefile registered to a literature, taxonomic accounts [11-14, 20, 21-25] and classified survey of India toposheet (1:10,000) is used as study area following Nieukerken et al, Holloway and Zahiri et al [2, 32]. map. The site locations were plotted as point layers with 50 m ~ 1613 ~ Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies Table 1: Coordinates, elevation and habitat types among 37 sites selected for inventory and ecological studies of moths at Tinsukia district, Assam, 2013–2016 S. No Sites Latitude Longitude Elevation(m) Habitat type 1 Digboi 27.39894 95.59719 141 Degraded evergreen forest 2 - 27.39224 95.62198 150 Semi natural habitat 3 - 27.39742 95.61004 152 Degraded evergreen forest 4 - 27.35566 95.61200 182 Semi natural habitat 5 - 27.35599 95.56184 245 Tropical evergreen forest 6 Doom Dooma 27.56298 95.55628 121 Semi natural habitat 7 - 27.56900 95.55483 129 Disturbed urban land 8 - 27.57165 95.55435 130 Disturbed urban land 9 - 27.55557 95.57066 135 Semi natural habitat 10 - 27.56260 95.57504 136 Semi natural habitat 11 Guijan 27.57375 95.32286 121 Semi natural habitat 12 - 27.56388 95.30280 119 Semi natural habitats 13 - 27.54210 95.31288 127 Degraded evergreen forest 14 Kakopather 27.63704 95.67230 139 Semi natural habitat 15 - 27.63538 95.66148 141 Semi natural habitat 16 - 27.64203 95.64560 148 Degraded evergreen forest 17 Margherita 27.29236 95.67597 141 Disturbed urban land 18 - 27.31720 95.65054 144 Degraded evergreen forest 19 - 27.28392 95.73461 175 Disturbed urban land 20 - 27.24683 95.64570 355 Tropical evergreen forests 21 - 27.24008 95.59814 419 Tropical evergreen forests 22 Philobari 27.57518 95.66143 142 Semi natural habitat 23 - 27.54707 95.69987 143 Semi natural habitat 24 - 27.54472 95.69680 143 Degraded evergreen forest 25 - 27.54486 95.69106 143 Degraded evergreen forest 26 Saraipung 27.33396 95.48449 132 Tropical evergreen forest 27 - 27.34826 95.49849 145 Tropical evergreen forest 28 - 27.31942 95.51169 183 Tropical evergreen forest 29 Talup 27.72605 95.58990 127 Semi natural habitat 30 - 27.68425 95.58441 128 Semi natural habitat 31 Tinsukia 27.49385 95.33717 123 Disturbed urban lands 32 - 27.51500 95.33510 124 Disturbed urban lands 33 - 27.47076 95.33434 125 Disturbed urban lands 34 - 27.47218 95.32817 122 Semi natural habitats 35 Jagun 27.35991 95.91797 159 Semi natural habitats 36 - 27.36221 95.89093 154 Degraded evergreen forest 37 - 27.34108 95.91741 225 Tropical evergreen forest Species enumeration Genus Callidula Moore Order Lepidoptera Linnaeus, 1758 9. Callidula erycinoides Felder, 1874 Suborder Glossata Fabricius, 1775 Genus Tetragonus Geyer Infraorder Heteroneura Tillyard, 1918 10. Tetragonus catamitus Geyer, 1832 Clade Apoditrysia Minet, 1983 Subfamily Pterothysaninae Superfamily Cossoidea Leach, 1815 Genus Pterothysanus Walker Family Cossidae Leach, 1815 11. Pterothysanus laticilia Walker, 1854 Genus Xyleutes Hubner Clade Macroheterocera Chapman, 1893 1. Xyleutes mineus Cramer, 1777 Superfamily Lasiocampoidea Harris, 1841 2. Xyleutes persona le Guillou, 1841 Family Lasiocampidae Harris, 1841 Genus Zeuzera Latreille Subfamily Lasiocampinae Harris, 1841 3. Zeuzera multistrigata Moore, 1881 Genus Metanastria Hubner Superfamily Zygaenoidea Latreille, 1809 12. Metanastria hyrtaca Cramer, 1779 Family Zygaenidae Latreille, 1809 Genus Paralebeda Aurivillius Genus Cyclosia Hübner 13. Paralebeda plagifera Walker, 1855 4. Cyclosia papilionaris Drury, 1773 Genus Kunugia Nagano Genus Eterusia Hope 14. Kunugia latipennis Walker, 1855 5. Eterusia aedea Clerck, 1759 15. Kunugia sp. 1 Genus Gynautocera Guérin-Méneville Genus Trabala Walker 6. Gynautocera papilionaria Guérin-Meneville, 1831 16. Trabala vishnou Lefèbvre, 1827 Genus Pidorus Walker 17. Trabala ganesha Roepke, 1951 7. Pidorus glaucopis Drury, 1773 Genus Radhica Moore Genus Trypanophora Kollar 18.