Biodiversity and Species Distribution of Coccinellids (Coccinellidae: Coleoptera) in District Sargodha (Punjab), Pakistan

Coccinellid beetles (Coccinellidae; Coleoptera) are voracious predators of many insect pests of economic importance. Among 6,000 species of coccinellids described worldwide, only 75 species have been reported from Pakistan so far. Keeping in view the limited work on these important beetles, an extensive faunal survey was conducted in the district Sargodha (32 degrees 05'02" N and 72 degrees 40'18" E), Pakistan to assess the species richness and distribution of coccinellid beetles in seven selected regions (Bhera, Bhalwal, Kot Momin, Sahiwal, Sargodha, Shahpur and Silanwali). A total of 1,470 coccinellid specimens were collected from all types of vegetation and were identified up to species level by means of external morphology, published descriptions and male genitalia micrometry. Nine species were identified belonging to 9 genera and 4 subfamilies occurring along with 10 trophic associations. Five species viz; Coccinella septempunctata (Linnaeus 1758), Hippodamia variegata (Goeze 1777), Menochilus sexmaculatus (Fabricius 1781), Micraspis allardi (Mulsant 1853) and Propylea dissecta (Mulsant 1850) belonged to tribe Coccinellini (Latreille 1807) of subfamily Coccinellinae (Latreille 1807). Two species belonged to tribe Chilocorini (Costa 1849) of subfamily Chilocorinae (Mulsant 1846) i.e. Brumoides suturalis (Fabricius 1798) and Exochomus nigripennis (Erichson 1843). Two species namely Henosepilachna vigintioctopunctata (Fabricius 1775) and Scynmus nubilus (Mulsant 1850) represented respectively the tribe Epilachnini (Mulsant 1846) of subfamily Epilachninae (Mulsant 1846) and tribe Scymnini (Mulsant 1846) of subfamily Scymninae (Mulsant 1846). Among all the species, C. septempunctata was found widely distributed in all localities studied, whereas, Sargodha locality represented highest diversity indices of Shannon-Weiner's (1.65), Margalef's (1.40) and Simpson's (0.75).