Assessment of Pentatomoidea in Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary, Jharkhand, India: Faunal Composition, Abundance and Distribution

This study documents new distributional record of Pentatomoidea species along with their relative abundance in Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary,Jharkhand.The Pentatomoidea, a remarkably diverse group encompassing over 8000 species across 1400 genera globally, is the focus of our research.The 22 species from 18 genera and 3 families (Cydnidae, Pentatomidae, and Scutelleridae) of Pentatomoidea in Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary were recorded which were undocumented.Among these, 16 species representing 13 genera and 3 families constitute the first record for state of Jharkhand.

Keywords: Hemiptera,New record, Pentatomoidea,Relative abundance,Wildlife sanctuary Pentatomoidea is a superfamily belonging to the insect order Hemiptera, suborder Heteroptera, and the infraorder Pentatomomorpha. They greatly vary in size with the smallest species not much larger than a pin head (Megaris Stål in family Megarididae and Sepontia Stål in the family Pentatomidae) to the largest and most robust species in the Heteroptera (some members of family Tessaratomidae) (Rider 2018).

Most of the species belong to this superfamily are phytophagous, causing economic damage to various crops and a few groups are suspected to be fungivores (Canopidae, Megarididae, some Plataspidae) (Rider 2018). Among the members of this superfamily only subfamily Asopinae under the family Pentatomidae exhibit predatory feeding habits and known as predatory stink bugs. These predatory bugs mainly predate on larvae of lepidopteran, dipteran, and coleopteran insects, both in the juvenile and adult stages (De Clercq 2000).

The superfamily Pentatomoidea comprises with 18 families worldwide of which only 9 families viz., Acanthosomatidae, Cydnidae, Dinidoridae, Parastrachiidae, Pentatomidae, Plataspidae, Scutelleridae, Tessaratomidae, Urostylididae were reported from India (Distant 1902, Lis 2006, Rider 2006, Scheiding 2006, Vilimova 2006). Over 768 species of the superfamily Pentatomoidea have been reported in India, out of about 8042 species known worldwide (Biswas et al., 2014, Rider 2018, Praveen et al., 2024).

During the survey conducted at the Chota Nagpur Plateau in Jharkhand state, 22 species belonging to 18 genera and 3 families (Cydnidae, Pentatomidae, and Scutelleridae) within the superfamily Pentatomoidea were documented from the Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary. This study aims to understand the diversity, abundance, and distribution of species belonging to superfamily Pentatomloidea within the Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary in Jharkhand, India.

This information is crucial for assessing the ecological health of the sanctuary, as these insects play vital roles in the ecosystem as both predators and herbivores.