Studies on Diversity, Distribution and Relative Abundance of Insect Pollinators on Mango in Kyarda Doon Valley of District Sirmaur, Himachal Pradesh

The present studies were conducted on diversity, distribution and relative abundance of insect pollinators of mango in KyardaDoon valley of district Sirmaur, Himachal Pradesh. During the flowering period i.e. April - May 2019, collections were made regularly from 7 different localities viz. Kolar, Dhaulakuan, Majra, Paonta Sahib, Puruwala, Rajban and Sataun. Insect diversity studies showed a total of 23 species of insect pollinators belonging to 4 orders and 13 families of class Insecta. Of these, 11 species belonged to Diptera, 6 to Coleoptera, 4 to Hymenoptera and 2 toHemiptera. Morphological features, genitalia and wing venation of the insect species were studied. Analysis of data on relative abundance of different insect pollinators revealed that dipterans were the most prominent insect visitors of mango flowers in all the localities i. e. Kolar (56.10%), Dhaulakuan (52.03%), Paonta Sahib (57.71%), Majra (47.62%), Puruwala (61.58%), Rajban (59.96%) and Sataun (64.85%). Episyrphusbalteatus was the most abundant insect visitor to mango flowers in all the localities i. e. Kolar (16.06%), Dhaulakuan (18.09%), Paonta Sahib (13.12%), Majra (9.43%), Puruwala (27.44%), Rajban (20.11%) and Sataun (27.31%). Besides dipterans, coleopterans also constituted an important group of insect pollinators followed by hymenopterans and hemipterans.