An Annotated Checklist of Coccinellidae (Coleoptera) from Pundibari Region of West Bengal, India
Samrat Saha
Department of Entomology, Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Pundibari, West Bengal, India.
B. Keerthana
Department of Entomology, Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Pundibari, West Bengal, India.
Soheli Sarkar
Department of Entomology, Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Pundibari, West Bengal, India.
Mrinal Karjee
Department of Entomology, Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Pundibari, West Bengal, India.
Gokul Krishna Dhanapati *
Department of Entomology, Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Pundibari, West Bengal, India.
Shyamal Kumar Sahoo
Department of Entomology, Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Pundibari, West Bengal, India.
Suprakash Pal
Directorate of Research (RRS-TZ), Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Pundibari, West Bengal, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Coccinellidae is a group of economically important insect and widely used as biological control agents in different agricultural and horticultural ecosystem. In last few years a number of works on coccinellid beetles have been carried out at Pundibari region of northern tract of West Bengal. Here, a first preliminary checklist of coccinellid beetles from the Pundibari region has been presented. Hitherto, from this region only the subfamily, Coccinellinae has been reported. This current checklist consists of 21 species of coccinellid beetles under 14 genera and belonging to 5 different tribes including both insectivorous and phytophagous species of ladybird beetles. The tribes mentioned here were Aspidimerini, Chilocorini, Coccinellini, Epilachnini, and Sticholotidini. Phytophagous coccinellids mentioned in this list are Henosepilachna pusillanima, Henosepilachna septima, and Henosepilachna vigintioctopunctata and remaining were insectivorous ones.
Keywords: Coccinellinae, crop ecosystem, distribution, host, insect pest