Examining the wing venation patterns of different species of moths (Lepidoptera) found in IISER Mohali

Abstract

Taxonomy is the foundation of all biological sciences, pure and applied alike, including Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries, Plants, Animals and human health etc. It is vital for the scientific integrity. Without a good, constantly updated taxonomy, biodiversity studies and conservation science become meaningless. Insects are the most cosmopolitan, polyphagous and varied living organisms on earth. Lepidoptera is one of the most dominant groups in the class Insecta, comprising moths, butterflies, and skippers. Moths are among the most abundant, familiar and oldest known insect groups. They play a significant role in the fast emerging field of taxonomy and entomology. Hampson (1892-1896) made an outstanding contribution in the taxonomy of various families of moths including morphology and wing venation. In India, much work has been done to update the taxonomy of numerous moth families but the major work is based on the external genitalia and molecular studies. Therefore, till date negligible work on wing venation especially from Punjab region has been remained neglected from taxonomic point of view. To overcome this gap, this master project has been carried out on wing venation of six moth families from IISER, Mohali. The studied material belonged to 77 species referable to 67 genera out of which out of which 3 genera (3 species), 13 genera (14 species), 10 genera (13 species), 9 genera (12 species), 13 genera (13 species) and 19 genera (22 species) belong to families Lasiocampidae, Noctuidae, Sphingidae, Geometridae, Crambidae and Erebidae respectively. During the present work, wing venation patterns have been studied in elaborate.Dichotomous keys to the studied families, and genera have also been formulated. Before giving detailed wing venation features of each species, genus was represented with its first reference, name of type species and remarks wherever available.