Diversity and distribution of pollinators of temperate fruit crops of Shimla hills in Himachal Pradesh

Present studies on diversity and distribution of various insect visitors to six temperate fruit crops was made by collecting the pollinators in different orchards located at Kandyali (2550 m), Ghumali (2070 m) and Dhamandri (1575 m) of Shimla hills (Himachal Pradesh), during March to May, 2004. Insect diversity studies showed that these temperate fruit crops were visited by 70 species of insects belonging to 6 orders and 27 families of class Insecta. Of these, 24 species belonged to Hymenoptera, 24 to Diptera, 16 to Lepidoptera, 3 to Coleoptera, 2 to Hemiptera and 1 to order Thysanoptera. Hymenopterans and dipterans constituted an important group of insect pollinators.