Species diversity, seasonal abundance and morphometric analysis of grasshopper (Orthoptera: Caelifera) in Rajshahi City, Bangladesh

Abstract

A study from July 2016 to June 2017 was carried out to assess the species diversity, seasonal abundance and morphometric characteristics of grasshopper (Orthoptera: Caelifera) at Rajshahi city of Rajshahi District, Bangladesh. A total number of 286 individuals of grasshopper were examined during the study. Eight species of grasshopper were identified under seven genera of 2 families. The numbers of identified species were seven and one, and their percentages were calculated as 90.9% and 9.1% in families Acrididae and Tetrigidae respectively. Based on monthly occurrence, four species of grasshopper were found throughout 12 months, three were 9-11 months and one was 6-8 months. The highest species abundance of grasshoppers was recorded in the month of July to August and lowest in November to January. Among the collected species the status of Camnula pellucida was very common (VC) and rest seven species were considered as not rare (NR). The Simpson’s diversity index (1-D) for grasshopper species was 0.80. For the study of inter-specific variations, morphometric analysis of nine parameters viz. length of body, antenna, foreleg, midleg, hindleg, forewing and hindwing; width of forewing and hindwing was evaluated. The lengths or widths of these parameters were measured by ImageJ software (1.48v) and data were analyzed by GraphPad InStat 3 and MS Excel 2007. Relationship among parameters and different species were determined using repeated measures ANOVA with Tukey post-test. The variation between these species and parameters was considered highly significant (p< 0.001) and showed the dynamic speciation. Morphometric analysis of these eight species was done for the first time from this region.