Species Composition and Relative Abundance of Predatory Spider Fauna in Sunflower Ecosystem
Basavaraj K *
Department of Entomology, College of Agriculture, Gangavathi, Karnataka, 583 227, India.
Mohan I Naik
Department of Entomology, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bengaluru, Karnataka, 560 065, India.
Jagadish K S
Department of Entomology, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bengaluru, Karnataka, 560 065, India.
Saleemali Kannihalli
Department of Entomology, College of Agriculture, Gangavathi, Karnataka, 583 227, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Studies were conducted to know the species composition and Relative abundance of predatory spider fauna in sunflower crop ecosystem at Zonal Agricultural Research Station (ZARS), UAS, GKVK, Bengaluru. The results revealed that about 29 species of spiders were found and recorded in the sunflower ecosystem belonging to different families viz., Araneidae (10 species), Salticidae (7 species), Thomisidae (3 species), Oxyopidae (3 species), Tetragnathidae (2 species), Miturgidae (2 species), Clubionidae and Linyphiidae (1 species each). During Kharif 2022, among the dominant spiders species maximum relative abundance was recorded by the Oxyopes sp. (30%) followed by Thomisus sp. (25.79%), Cheiracanthium sp. (11.05%), Telamonia sp. (8.43%), Peucetia viridana (7.89%) and Neoscona sp. (7.36). Whereas, remaining species contributed 9.48 per cent towards species composition. However, in Kharif 2023 highest relative abundance was recorded by Oxyopes sp. (28.81%) followed by Thomisus sp. (23.75%), Peucetia viridana (15.25%), Cheiracanthium sp (8.47%), Neoscona sp. (6.78%) and Telamonia sp. (5.12%), while the remaining species contributed 11.82 per cent to the species composition.
Keywords: Diversity, relative abundance, predatory spiders, sunflower