MORPHOMETRIC STUDY ON LADYBIRD BEETLES COLLECTED FROM DIFFERENT INTENSIVE VEGETABLE GROWING AREAS

Abstract

Executive Summary The ladybird beetle family is a significant group of beetles because they play a significant role in biological control and are key universal predators. Ladybird beetle biodiversity in Bangladesh hasn't been thoroughly studied geographically. In light of this, the current study was carried out to investigate the ladybird beetle fauna in different intensive vegetable growing areas of Bangladesh. Samples were collected from 6 distinct vegetable growing localities of Bangladesh namely Jashore, Rangpur, Pabna, Jamalpur, Mymensingh and Narsingdi. Collection surveys were done in these locations at intervals of fifteen days. There are eight species according to the identification of the specimens which were grouped under six genera of ladybird beetles. These species include Coccinella transversalis, Coccinella californica, Coccinella fulgida, Cheilomenes sexmaculata, Menochilus sexmaculatus, Chilocorus sp., Cycloneda sanguinea, and Brumoides suturalis. Analysis of the numerical data revealed that C. transversalis, Cheilomenes sexmaculata, and Menochilus sexmaculatus exhibited high levels of abundance, collected from all surveyed localities. In contrast, the remaining species demonstrated moderate levels of abundance with the exception of Coccinella fulgida and Brumoides suturalis those were exclusively collected from the Narsingdi locality.