20336--Surabhi Bisht Indian Journal of Entomology 83(2021) Online published Ref. No. e20336 DoI No.: 10.5958/0974-8172.2021.00066.3 MOTH ASSEMBLAGES OF AN URBAN BIOTOPE IN KUMAUN HIMALAYA, UTTARAKHAND SURABHI BISHT, MANOJ KUMAR ARYA* AND FASUIL FAROOQ Insect Biodiversity Laboratory, Department of Zoology, D S B Campus, Kumaun University, Nainital 263002, Uttarakhand, India *Email: [email protected] (corresponding author) ABSTRACT A study on community structure of moth’s diversity was undertaken in an urban biotope located in the lake catchment area of Nainital. A total of 988 moths belonging to 36 species under 34 genera and 9 families were observed. Erebidae was the most dominant family with 10 species, followed by Geometridae (8 species), Noctuidae (7 species), Crambidae (6 species) and Drepanidae, Eupterotidae, Notodontidae, Saturniidae, Sphingidae with single species each. Erebidae, Noctuidae, Crambidae revealed maximum species richness during September, while Geometridae peaked throughout monsoon season. Maximum alpha biodiversity indices were exhibited by the family Erebidae. Species such as Hypena iconicalis Walker, Hypomecis sp. and Mythimna separata (Walker) were the most abundant during the entire study period. Two species (Cnaphalocrocis medinalis and Hydrillodes sp.) appear to have new distribution records from Nainital vicinity. The urbanized landscape so reflects moderately high moths and corresponding floral diversity and can be an attribute in sustaining a rich biodiversity. Key words: Abundance, biotope, diversity, family, Himalaya, moths, Nainital, seasonal index, species, urban Lepidoptera, comprising butterflies and moths, forests, mainly comprising Quercus leucotricophora, potentially are a valuable group with importance as Q. floribunda, Cupressus torulosa, Cedrus deodara, umbrella taxa in the conservation arena (New, 1997). different shrub species (Hypericum oblongifolium, Moths demonstrate a close functional relationship Indigofera heterantha, Salvia officinalisetc.) and some with vegetation structure that makes them ideal for dominant species of herbs like Eupatorium odoratum, identifying ecological factors affecting biodiversity, Urtica dioica and Dicliptera bupleuroides. The indicating forest quality and themselves appearing as sampling and counts of moth species was conducted good forest indicator taxa (Summerville et al., 2004; in three seasons: Pre-monsoon (April-June), monsoon Uniyal et al., 2016). Faunistic studies on diversity (July-September) and post-monsoon (October- of moths can help to determine changes in habitat December) in 2019. Standard light traps (Mathew, 1996) quality of any ecosystem. Fragmented studies on with slight modifications by placing 160w halogen moths have been documented by Smetacek (1994; bulbs and white moth sheet were operated at night from 2004; 2005; 2008; 2009; 2011) in the Kumaun region 20:00 to 6:00 hr for sampling at regular intervals. The of Uttarakhand. Therefore, an inventorisation of moth collected moths were taxonomically arranged to family assemblages from an urban biotope in Nainital was level and identified as per Nieukerken et al. (2011) intended to examine the species composition, diversity classification system and relevant literature (Sondhi and and seasonal index of moths group in accordance to the Sondhi, 2016; Chandra et al., 2018; Dey et al., 2018). disturbed patch of the study area. Further, the overall number of direct moth sightings MATERIALS AND METHODS in the study area categorised as Fairly common (>51 sightings), Very Common (between 31-50 sightings), The present study area is an urban biotope with Common (between 11-30 sightings) and Uncommon human interventions, along a disturbed temperate forest (<10 sightings) were speculated to determine the ridge situated in and around the Naini Lake catchment local status of the recorded moths. Shannon diversity of district Nainital. It lies at an altitude range of 1940 index was used to determine the species diversity for to 2615 msl, with a spatial extent of 29°24´´N, and each family of moths (Shannon and Wiener, 1949). 79°28´´E. The vegetation ranges from evergreen to Margalef’s index was used as a simple measure deciduous type and the area is dominated by mixed oak of species richness (the total number of species) 2 Indian Journal of Entomology 83(2021) Online published Ref. No. e20336 (Margalef, 1958). The dominance of each family was families was seemingly high during the monsoon, determined by calculating the Simpson’s dominance followed by pre-monsoon; while minimum values index (Simpson, 1949). The data for each parameter were observed in post-monsoon period. The maximum were computed using PAST 3.04 statistical software. To abundance during monsoon season can be correlated compare monthly fluctuation of the moth’s population with the ample floral diversity in the study area. Seasonal in the study area during April to December 2019, index of families given in Fig. 3 demonstrates maximum the seasonal index as a way to measure the temporal number of species and individuals in September; include dynamics, mean occurrence of species in a month in Erebidae, Crambidae and Noctuidae; while Geometridae relation to the overall mean monthly sightings was peaked during entire monsoon. Notodontidae and determined in a modified manner using the formula by Saturniidae were occasionally present during pre- Mathew and Anto (2007): monsoon and monsoon seasons, respectively. The seasonal abundance of the families later moderately Month Wise mean Seasonal Index = ________________ x 100 declined during the post-monsoon. Family Sphingidae Overall mean in particular Macroglossum sp. peaked during monsoon and showed moderate abundance during rest of the where, month-wise mean are the number of individuals months; Drepanidae and Eupterotidae showed restricted for a given family sighted during the study period and pattern in seasonal abundance, confined to monsoon overall mean is mean of all monthwise means. and post-monsoon periods, respectively and illustrating negligible seasonal index during the pre-monsoon. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Smetacek (2008) documented 887 species of The familywise species assemblage of moths moths from three elevations during past three decades recorded a total of 988 individuals belonging to 36 in Nainital district of Kumaun Himalayan region. species under 34 genera, 9 families and 5 superfamilies Smetacek (2011) aggregated 71 species as further (Fig. 1). Erebidae (10 species) constituted 27.8% of additions. Similarly, various studies from Garhwal the total species richness, followed by Geometridae (8 Himalayas- Bhardwaj et al. (2016) reported 12 species species and 22.2%), Noctuidae (7 species and 19.4%), of moths from 6 families in a sal forest, Dehradun, Crambidae (6 species and 16.7%) and Drepanidae, with Erebidae as the dominant family, followed by Eupterotidae, Notodontidae, Saturniidae, Sphingidae Sphingidae, Geometridae, Noctuidae, Eupterotidae each with single species (2.8% each). On the basis of and Saturniidae. Sondhi and Sondhi (2016) provided direct sightings, 4 species each were categorized as fairly checklist of 248 species of moths under 8 families over common and very common, 27 species as common, four years from Dehradun and its surrounding areas, and only one being uncommon. In terms of relative reporting family Erebidae the most abundant. Differing abundance, Hypena iconicalis Walker was found to be landscapes also limit temporal occurrence on moth’s the most dominant (6.27%), followed by Hypomecis population extent. Studies conducted on abundance and sp., Mythimna separata (Walker) and Syntomoides richness of moths in Gangotri Landscape in Uttarakhand imaon Cramer. Contrarily, Actias selene Hubner was Himalaya manifested highest peak during monsoon, the least common (0.91%), followed by Erebus macrops followed by pre-monsoon and post-monsoon (Sanyal, (L.), Axylia putris (L.) and Cnaphalocrocis medinalis 2015). Sharma (2016) observed maximum diversity (Guenee). The moth assemblage patterns of the study of moths during rainy season from the Ajmer city, area is given in Table 1. Rajasthan. Of the total 36 species listed, two species Shannon-Wiener Diversity Index (Hs) was found (Cnaphalocrocis medinalis and Hydrillodes sp.) were to be 3.495 suggesting a rich diversity for the biotope. not documented previously by Smetacek (2008; 2009; Family Erebidae displayed the maximum species 2011) from the Kumaun region. Cnaphalocrocis diversity (2.196), followed by Geometridae (2.011), medinalis and Hydrillodes sp. have been recorded Noctuidae (1.863) and Crambidae (1.755). Margalef’s throughout India (Hampson, 1895). Index of Species richness (Hm) was again found maximum for Erebidae (1.577), while Simpson’s ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Dominance Index (Dm) ranged from 0.821 to 0.877, The authors thank the Head, Department of indicating dominance of certain species of the four Zoology, D S B Campus, Kumaun University, Nainital, major families recorded during entire study period (Fig. for providing facilities and local people for their 2). Seasonal pattern of abundance and diversity among cooperation during the field visits. Moth assemblages of an urban biotope in Kumaun Himalaya, Uttarakhand 3 Surabhi Bisht et al. ii iii i iv . v vi vii viii ix x xi xii xii xiv xv xvi i xvii xviii xix xx xxi xxii xxiii xxiv xxv xxvi xxvii xxviii xxix xxx xxxi xxxii xxxiii xxxiv xxxv xxxvi Fig. 1. Diversity of moths: i. Bastilla crameri; ii. Chrysorabdia biviita; iii. Erebus macrops; iv.