Diversity, seasonal variation and diel pattern of nocturnal moths of IISER Mohali

Abstract

There has been almost a century-long gap in the diversity study of moths of India after the extensive work of Hampson in 1890s, albeit certain works by Bell & Scott (1937). Fortunately, within the last few decades, there have been many regional studies on moth diversity of India. These studies, although, have been restricted mostly to the biological hotspots of Western Ghats, Himalayan region of Uttarakhand and the Indo-Burma region. Moreover, studies on seasonal variation and diel pattern of moths in Indian landscape have been very scarce. The condition is poorer in the case of Punjab, where very few literature is available reporting the moth diversity to 198 species. This study, by choosing Mohali as the site, has been conducted to contribute more towards this lack of one of the most foundational study. From over 100 sampling sessions, a total of 151 morphospecies have been recorded and 89 have been identified upto genus level, of which 81 have been identified upto species level. 33 of the identified species are new addition to the current checklist of moths of Punjab. Furthermore, this study also reports the significant variation in moth abundance and diversity in the postmonsoon season.