Arthropod diversity in cashew blossom Singh S*, Mukherjee S K Department of Entomology, College of Agriculture, Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, 751003 *Email: swoyamsingh@gmail.com (corresponding author)
Online published on 21 July, 2020. Abstract Arthropod diversity in cashew blossoms were sampled on five elite cashew varieties viz. Jagannath, Balabhadra, H-1608, H 2/16 and NRC Sel 2 during its flowering and fruiting period (February to April, 2015). A total of 1518 arthropods of 7 orders, 23 families and 29 species were documented. These were in the order of: Hymenoptera > Araneae > Hemiptera > Coleoptera = Lepidoptera > Thysanoptera = Diptera. The species diversity indices viz., Shannon-Weiner index (2.44), Simpson's index (0.11) and evenness index (0.86) obtained indicate rich species diversity and abundance during first fortnight of April. Comparing the diversity indices between the varieties reveal that Shannon-Weiner index varied from 2.129 to 2.212 showing similarity with the variety H-1608 giving the most diverse. Top Keywords Cashew, arthropods, blossoms, diversity, indices, thrips, spiders, Hymenoptera, varieties, H-1608 Apis spp, abundance. Top |