A Field Guide to Insects & Spiders of Kanha Tiger Reserve

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About the Book The most common question asked while counting or photographing insects and spiders was, why document them? They have existed, and will continue to exist, in this landscape for thousands of years. The answer to that question is not only complicated, but without concrete proof of their importance in the ecosystem - and this becomes the major reason why documenting these invertebrates is important. Their value will not be understood unless we understand them and their ecology. With this objective in mind, this book focuses on the diversity and the ecology of insects and spiders recorded in Kanha.

To make this book, on-field photography was employed to document the diversity as it exists on the field, and photographs are relied upon heavily for better understanding of the insect and spider diversity.

For the ease of the reader, it has been divided into six sections; sections I provide the identification keys for common insects and spiders of Kanha. Section II focuses on insect diversity and density, Section Ilion spider diversity and density. each of these sections. are further divided according to the modern system of classification, and to simplify the report, only focuses on Order, Family, Subfamily, Genus and Species (in that order). Each species has a picture plate associated with it, as has been explained in Key to images.

, Section IV discusses in detail the ecological role played by the documented diversity, and is further subdivided into subsections that enlists them according to their roles, viz. pollinators, herbivores, detritivores, parasites and predators, and pestiferous, along with a list of vertebrate fauna dependent on them.

Section V opens a discussion through recommendations on scientific and education concerning this group· of organisms, and section VI provides an index of organisms documented, a glossary of technical terms, and a bibliography of studies undertaken in this region.

The book has been fashioned as a field guide and reference book. The main reason of designing it in the way is for it to be easily accessible to the user without the hassle of scientific jargon.

Foreword Insects are regarded as the most common life forms on this planet. While insects are roughly over three times the total number of all other animals combined, experts say that only a small fraction of this multi rude has been named. And there are many more yet to be discovered in nature.

We cannot imagine life without insects. They render great service to mankind.

Besides pollinating a vast range of plants, and providing useful products like honey, silk, and beeswax, they also control pest population, both weed and insect, at a tolerable level. As 'primary and secondary decomposers, insects also break down wastes, dead animals, plants, and keep our environment clean.

Though underappreciated for their role, insects also carry tremendous ecological significance. A wide range of birds, amphibians, mammals, and reptiles depend upon them for survival. They also play an important role in various ecological processes.

Old and well-managed protected areas like the Kanha Tiger Reserve are a tremendous reposit9ry of insect life. The tiger reserve protects the insect species of this particular coercion under some umbrella species like the tiger and the hard ground barasingha as envisaged in the philosophy of biodiversity conservation. This stringent protection adds considerably to these insects playing their assigned role in nature.

Amid this scenario of relative unawareness, Mr. Aniruddha Dhamorikar's book entitled ''A Field Guide to Insects and Spiders of Kanha Tiger Reserve" is a most welcome endeavor. Mr. Dhamorikar has considerably updated the past checklists of insects and spiders with 469 individual specimens of insects and 114 of spiders, as well as some non-insect and non-arachnid animals. The well-indexed book carries sharp images and pointed descriptions. The book also throws light on threats to insect conservation and contains broad recommendations for restoration and conservation. he book is a wonderful field guide not only for entomologists but also for wildlife managers.

Preface Arthropods are considered to be one of the most primitive forms of life that exist today, and are undeniably the most successful on our planet. More than half of all life on Earth comprises of arthropods, and a large part of it is dominated by insects and spiders, with scientists prelisting about 5 million species of insects alone, closely followed by Arachnids (Mora et aI2011). This diversity, a result of various biotic and biotic interactions, has given rise to myriad forms of functions extremely vital for the Earth's ecosystem. They constitute an important food resource; act as predators, parasites, and closes vectors for many organisms, including humans (Schowalter 2011). Perhaps their most recognized roles in ecological functioning are pollination, decomposition, and the ability to control the populations of pestiferous organisms. According to Lose and Vaughan (2006), these ecosystem services amount to $60 billion a year in United States, and over 171 billion worldwide far pollination alone (TEEB 2010).

Although the 'role of insects and spiders is recognized for its benefits, and loss, to human resources, their ecological roles that span from micro-habitats to landscapes are less understood, partly because of the complexities involved in addressing the taxonomic; temporal, and spatial dynamics collaboratively (Schowalter 2011). To understand the role insects and spiders play in an ecosystem, a comprehensive biodiversity assessment is required not only of insects and spiders, but of organisms that depend upon them (eg. insectivorous birds and mammals), as well as those getting impacted by them (eg. pollination by insects, pest control by spiders).

In India, more than 53,400 species of insects (Alfred al 1998) and over 1686 species of spiders (Kiwanis et al2012) have been documented so far, with the number of species being discovered increasing every year since. In the context of Kanha, a comprehensive assessment has not been undertaken to ascertain the role of these invertebrates in the basic functioning of Kanha's ecosystems which is reined by apex predators such as tigers, leopards, and other carnivores. This book is therefore 'published to act as a primer to understand the insect and spider diversity of Kanha, and to understand the ecological roles they play.

Introduction Insects are the most diverse animals on Earth, outnumbering all the others in terms of species diversity and population. They belong to Phylum Arthropod (author), and are classified 'in their own Class Insect based on some typical characters. Insects have a hard exoskeleton made up of chitin. Their body is divided into three parts - head, thorax, and abdomen, and contains a pair of antennae, three pairs of legs, and row pairs of wings. They breathe through little holes on their abdomen called spiracles.

Class Insect is further divided into 32 orders (Wheeler et aI2001), the majority of them represented by Coleopteran, Lepidoptera, Dipteral, and Hymenoptera. They occupy virtually every terrestrial and freshwater niche that exists, and play a significant role in the complex food-web of an ecosystem. They are an indicator of ecosystem equilibrium - in other words, an imbalance in their populations can affect an ecosystem positively or negatively. For example, a small population of grasshoppers does no harm to plant growth, and serves as a food-source too many insectivorous animals, however a significant rise in their population can prove devastating to an ecosystem, which is observed when locusts swarm and damage crops. Studying this group of animals is therefore crucial to understand ecological functioning of a certain landscape.

Insects play a significant role in various basic functions of an ecosystem, such as pollination, degradation and decomposition, biological control, and serve as a rich source of food for other organisms. Their secondary, human- related importance is in forensic science (a held called forensic entomology), food preparations (as food additives), as well as in direct consumption by many communities across the globe. Perhaps their well known secondary importance comes in the form of aesthetics, as butterflies, moths, and beetles are commonly reared or welcomed into the gardens to add a movement of Ratter and a flash: of color to a manicured landscape.

In acts face threats similar to the vertebrates. Degradation of ecosystems significantly affects insect diversity and community assemblages and they are probably the first representatives of showing minute changes in an ecosystem. Habitat destruction and fragmentation threaten insects in ways similar to large vertebrates. Tented I actions World Commission on Environment and Development report Our Common Future (1987) states, "Fee have no accurate figures on the current rates of extinctions, as most of the species vanishing are those least documented, such as insects in tropical forests’. Similar ro the charismatic species such as the tiger, insects are poached for their vivid colours.Species of butterflies, beetles, and other "appealing" ones are killed and sold illegally as collection items.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages