Diversity, distribution and habitat preference of predacious coccinellids (coleoptera: coccinellidae) in agro- and forest habitats of Tripura, Northeast India

The diversity of predacious Coccinellids is of great practical and scientific importance due to their worldwide utilization as natural enemy of phytophagous insect pests. Present inventory was carried out in two types of habitats namely, agro- and forest habitats for predacious coccinellids in Tripura, northeast India. Random collection was made by hand picking and sweep netting during January 2008 to December 2010. A total of 1627 individuals of coccinellids representing 24 species under 17 genera were collected. Overall rank distribution of species based on relative abundance showed that 24 species distributed in 21 ranks. Diversity indices, richness estimate and individual based rarefaction curve revealed that species richness and diversity of coccinellids was more in forest habitats than the agro-habitats.