Seasonal variation and species assemblage of Odonates (Class- Insecta) in different habitats of Pune district, Northern Western Ghats, Maharashtra, India

Abstract

Sixty-eight localities from Pune district, Maharashtra, India were surveyed for diversity, assemblage and seasonal distribution of Odonata along three different habitats viz. agricultural land, forest and wetlands, and urban. The present investigation is based on extensive survey of all three habitats during three major seasons (pre-monsoon, post-monsoon and winter). A total of 4,268 individuals belonging to 68 species in 39 genera under 9 families were recorded during the study period (December 2011-December 2015). Family Libellulidae (44%) was the most dominant and widely distributed in different sampling sites in all the three habitats. The most dominant species was Pantala flavescens(18.35 %). Across the three land-use types, there was a difference between the species composition with forest being the most diverse followed by urban habitat and agricultural land, though, the abundance of species were much more in urban habitat. Clustering analysis showed that urban and agricultural lands are more similar forming the same clusters whereas forest forms a different one. Species richness and abundance varied with seasons, post-monsoon being highest in richness as well as abundance. Variation in rainfall patterns has been reported to be one of the important factors. During the present investigation, a total of 52 species were reported from Bhimashankar Wildlife Sanctuary (WLS), and out of which 40 species were new records from the area. A total of 37 species was documented from Ujani Wetland, out of which 21 species have been recorded first time. Thus the present work aims to document the Odonate diversity of the Pune district along with their habitat selection and seasonal variations which provides baseline data that can be used for their conservation strategies.