An Annotated Checklist, Spatial Distribution Patterns and New Orthopteran Species Reported in Agroclimatic Region of Rajasthan, India
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Abstract
The orthopteran insects are considered to be a great indicator of diversity and ecosystem health. A biannual study (2021-2023) in an agroclimatic region, semiarid eastern plain of Rajasthan (India), comprising four study sites provided checklist of orthopteran insects to investigate the species composition, distribution, abundance and diversity. Totally, 30 species under 6 families and 15 subfamilies comprising two suborders, Caelifera (24 species with 6 new record) and Ensifera (6 species with 1 new record) were reported. The Acrididae family, comprising 18 orthopteran species (6 new records), exhibited the highest species richness, dominance, and abundance, followed by Pyrgomorphidae (5 species), Tettigoniidae (3 species with 1 new record), Gryllidae (2 species) and Gryllotalpidae and Tetrigidae (1 species each, respectively). The acridid species, Hieroglyphus banian represented the highest IVI at Jaipur (63.19) and Dausa (36.46), signifying its dominance in agriculture farms, while gryllid species, Acheta domesticus constantly exhibited high IVI across all the sites. The highest species richness was observed in Jaipur and Tonk, with many species occurring frequently. The highest species Dominance (D = 0.1021) in Ajmer, Simpson’s diversity index (Dx = 0.9107) and Shannon Wiener index (Hx = 2.698) was maximum in Tonk, and Evenness (E = 0.6259) in Jaipur showed statistically significant differences (p< 0.05*), highlighting distinct species compositions in Ajmer and Tonk. The diversity ordering curve across different sites revealed that Jaipur was the most diverse and evenly distributed site. This pioneering study makes a significant contribution of the orthopteran fauna in Rajasthan by documenting new species records for the region.
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