DIVERSITY OF MOTH (LEPIDOPTERA: HETEROCERA) IN DIFFERENT FOREST AREAS OF NORTH-WEST HIMALAYA

A study on moth diversity was carried out in the different forest areas of North-West Himalaya. Moths were collected from different forest areas such as deodar, chir pine, mixed, sal and teak of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand by using light traps. A total of 61 moth species belonging to 53 genera, 21 sub-families and 11 families were recorded from different forest types of North-West Himalaya. The recorded moth families Erebidae (23 genera, 28 species in 6 subfamilies) and Geometridae (10 genera, 10 species in 3 subfamilies) were very frequent with a less frequent documentation from Crambidae (7 genera, 7 species in 2 subfamilies), Noctuidae (6 genera, 6 species in 4 subfamilies), Eupterotidae (1 genera, 3 species in 1 subfamily), Notodontidae (1 genera, 2 species in 1 subfamily), Drepanidae (1 genera, 1 species in 1 subfamily), Euteliidae (1 genera, 1 species in 1 subfamily), Hyblaeidae (1 genera, 1 species), Limacodidae (1 genera, 1 species in 1 subfamily) and Nolidae (1 genera, 1 species in 1 subfamily).

The most diverse family of moth species recorded in the study belonging to this family, Erebidae, 45.90% followed by Geometridae 16.39%, Crambidae 11.47%, Noctuidae 9.83%, Eupterotidae 4.91%, Notodontidae 3.27% and other families constituting 1.63%. The moth population were found highest in mixed forest as compared to species-specific forest tree species. The moth diversity was highest in the month of July-September and declined from October onwards. Along with this study, future studies on similar lines will help documenting the moth diversity of different forest types of India.