Taxonomy of Subfamily Tenebrioninae (Latreille, 1802) and Pimeliinae (Latreille, 1802) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) with New Record from Sindh, Pakistan.

Soomro, Farheen Deeba; Sultana, Riffat; Soomro, Samiullah; Fatimah, Sadaf; Soomro, Nighat Seema; Larik, Sajjad Ali; Afghan, Ambreen Akhtar

Background: Darkling beetles cause economic damage to several agricultural crops due to their common prevalence. This study has been designed because still no detailed study has been carried out on this topic in Sindh, Pakistan. This research has been done to investigate the distribution, diversity and taxonomic status of two sub-families Tenebrioninae (Latreille, 1802) and Pimeliinae (Latreille, 1802) of family Tenebrionidae. Methods: Species of subfamily Tenebrioninae and Pimeliinae were collected from the different parts of lower Sindh with the help of pitfall trap, light trap and hand-picking methods from 2018 to 2020. The most sources of collection for these species were the soil surface of diverse ranches, beneath the shaken and mountain regions, the stockpiles area/godown and the soil surface of the Wilderness range. Result: During the present study 300 individuals of Tenebrionidae were accumulated and classified into two subfamilies: Pimeliinae which consisted of Pimelia capito and Trachyderma phalistinia species and Tenebrioninae which consisted of Uloma excise and Aphitobius diaperinus species. However, Pimelia capito and Trachyderma phalistinia were recorded as new records for the first time from Sindh province. It has been observed that several of the larger species were flightless and unable to do high flight. i.e., Ulomo excise. However, this object is under inspection and requires further research in the future.

SINDH (Pakistan); TENEBRIONIDAE; INSECT traps; CROPS; PITFALL traps

Agricultural Science Digest, 2024, Vol 44, Issue 2, p311

0253-150X

Academic Journal

10.18805/ag.DF-573