Diversity and foraging activity of flower visitors/ pollinators of Momordica charantia L., in Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract

Periodical field surveys were conducted in bitter gourd fields at weekly intervals in two locations at N. Poolampatti village, Vaiyampatti block, Tiruchirapalli district to study the diversity of insects visiting bitter gourd flowers. During the study 51 species of flower visitors/ pollinators were recorded which include 19 species of Hymenoptera, 15 species of Lepidoptera, seven species of Diptera and six species of Coleoptera. Tetragonula iridipennis was the most abundant pollinator followed by Apis florea, Halictus sp. and Apis cerana indica; while Syrphus ribesii was the dominating Dipteran pollinator. Among the Lepidopterans, Pachliopta hector was the major pollinator followed by Danaus chrysippus, Tirumala limniace and Delias eucharis. Species richness (S) was at its maximum (26 species) at 0800 – 1000 hours and minimum (07 species) at 1600-1800 hours. Shannon’s and Simpson’s diversity indices were maximum at 1000-1200 hours with 2.52 and 9.13 respectively. Shannon’s evenness ranged from 0.44 – 0.86 and Simpson’s evenness was 0.28 – 0.54 with maximum at 1000-1200 hours.