Abstract: Recently, wild silk has got great importance in many fields including medical. Wild sericulture has dependence on wild species, host plants and climatic conditions. Therefore, present study was intended to know the climatic drivers and role of host plant species richness on wild silk moth species richness and abundance. Geographical distribution of wild silkmoths was also studied based on the climatic regions. Silk moths were collected by using light traps from 10 sites located in six districts of Maharashtra with gradually changing climatic condition. Host plants were also recorded during the collection. Data obtained was analysed with statistical packages to deduce conclusions and comparison. 7 species belonging to 5 genera of family Saturniidae were recorded in the study. Three species belonging to genus Antheraea and one species from each of other genera Actias, Samia, Attacus and Loepa were recorded from the study area. Six species of host plants were found common at sites with dominant Terminalia genus. Species richness and abundance was found higher at the sites of Kolhapur District than other districts. Regression analysis predicted the richness of wild silk moths was depends on host plant richness. Cluster analysis also indicated relatedness between the population structures of sites in the Kolhapur district with higher species richness. Three climatic regions of Maharashtra have variation in species richness, distribution and the abundance of wild silk moths merely due to larval host plant species richness.
Keywords: Wild Silk moths, richness, Distribution, Saturniidae, climatic regions, Maharashtra.
Title: Influence of climatic regions on species richness, distribution and abundance of wild Silk moths in Maharashtra, India
Author: Anna Gophane, A. D. Jadhav, M. V. Santhakumar, T. V. Sathe
International Journal of Life Sciences Research
ISSN 2348-313X (Print), ISSN 2348-3148 (online)
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