Introduction

Coccinellids or ladybirds, members of the family Coccinellidae, are among the most familiar beetles and have common names around the world, such as lady cows, God's cows and virgin's insect (Moreton 1969). These are small to medium size beetles with an oval, oblong or hemispherical body shape (Majerus 1994). Most of them are of bright shining colors with a pattern of spots or patches against a contrasting background. Many appear to be distasteful to birds, and their conspicuous appearance is an example of warning coloration (Moreton 1969).

Numerous species of Coccinellids are major biological agents of pests such as aphids, mealybugs, scale insects, thrips and mites in all parts of the world (Moreton 1969, Hawkeswood 1987 and Majerus 1994, Khan 2001). Some are specific in their food choice, while many are polyphagous. The introduction of the vedalia ladybird, Rodolia cardinalis Mulsant, from Australia into California in 1888 to control cottony cushion scale, Icerya purchasi, which threatened the citrus industry, is widely regarded the most successful instances of biological pest control (Majerus 1994).

The family Coccinellidae comprises 5,200 described species worldwide (Hawkeswood 1987). Fleming (2000) reported 4,000 predatory species of Coccinellid including more than 300 species from Indo-Pak Subcontinent, Irshad (2001) listed 71 species of Coccinellids in Pakistan. The present study was undertaken to explore and prepare an inventory of the predacious Coccinellid, found at different altitudes in Chitral district at 7112 and 7353 east longitude and between 3513 and 3655 north latitude at the extreme northern territory of Pakistan (Figure 1). This covers an area of 14,850 km2, while the total cultivated area was 22,552 hectares (Anonymous, 1999). Ninety nine percent population of Chitral is engaged in farming. Eighty percent of the farmers possess less than two hectares and only one percent has 2.5 hectares of land. Wheat, maize, pulses, fodder, fruit and vegetables are the major crops (Anonymous, 1999). The climate of Chitral is temperate. Temperatures range from 15 to 45°C (Anonymous, 1999). The whole district Chitral has many rare species of flora and fauna, most of which are endangered.

Materials and Methods

The study was conducted to collect predatory coccinellids from 12 localities at different altitudes (1219.40 to 2651.63 m) in the Chitral District. Each locality was repeatedly sampled throughout 6 month (April through October, 2001). Samples were collected from a wide variety of terrestrial habitat throughout in each locality to ensure that the overall landscape of that locality was represented. Several collecting methods were used, depending on the type of habitats sampled. Adult specimens were collected by sweep-net, aspirator and hand picking. In some localities more then one method was used for insect collection. Adult insects collected from various habitats were killed in a cyanide bottle and pinned. Each specimen was tagged with the information about host plants, locality, and date. To protect the specimens from the insect pests, naphthalene tablets were added to collection boxes. Immature stages were collected directly from the habitats and preserved in 70% ethyl alcohol in bottles. Each bottle was labeled with information of host, area and date from which it was collected. The Chitral District is divided six regions (Tehsil). Two sites in each region were chosen. These are shown in Table 1 along with the altitude of each site.

Table 1.

Locations and altitudes of collection sites.

Identification of Specimens

Field collected beetles and immature stages of these adults were taken to the National Agricultural Research Center (NARC) Islamabad, Pakistan where they were identified to species level using published literature. To confirm identification some of the collected species were sent to the Universita degli studi di Pavia, Centro Interdisciplinare di Bioacustica e Ricerche Ambientali, Via Taramellia 24-27100 Pavia, Italy.

Figure 1

Locations of coccinellid species collected in the Chitral District, Pakistan

Table 2.

Coccinellid species collected from the Chitral District, Pakistan.

Results and Discussion

Twelve species of predatory beetles belonging to three different tribes (Chilocorini, Coccinellini and Psylloborini), and two sub-families, Coccinellinae Latreille 1807 and Chilocorinae Mulsant 1846 of the Coccinellidae family, were identified from the Chitral District, Pakistan (Figure 1, Table 2). All identified species were recorded for the first time from Chitral District, and of these six were recorded for the first time from Pakistan.

Conclusion

The present study was the first attempt to describe the coccinellid fauna of the Chitral District. The object of this study was to explore, identify and prepare inventory of predatory coccinellid species in the Chitral District, which will be helpful for the future researchers working on predatory coccinellid species of this region. For this purpose a preliminary survey was carried out in the six regions of the Chitral District. According to the results 12 different species from 9 genera belonging to sub-families Coccinellinae and Chilocorinae existed in the area. The species were, Coccinella septempunctata, Hippodamia (Adonia) variegata, Calvia punctata, Adalia bipunctata, Adalia tetraspilota, Aiolocaria hexaspilota, Macroilleis (Halyzia) hauseri, Oenopia conglobata, Halyzia tschitscherini, Chilocorus rubidus, Chilocorus circumdatus and Priscibrumus uropygialis.

Further survey is needed of those areas that were not covered in this study to fully explore predatory coccinellids fauna of district Chitral. The total area of the Chitral District is approximately 1480 km², which is mostly mountainous. These mountains are bare except for lower areas and cultivation is practiced only in small patches at the bottom of the deep and narrow valleys. The altitude of the mountains range from 1066.75 m in the extreme south in Arandu to 7690 m at mount Terichmir. A survey in such an area is not easy, where only camels or other animals used for transportation. However, efforts were made to survey evenly in distract Chitral to cover the maximum area.

Note

Paper copies of this article will be deposited in the following libraries. Senckenberg Library, Frankfurt Germany; National Museum of Natural History, Paris, France; Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Illinois USA; the University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA; the University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona USA; Smithsonian Institution Libraries, Washington D.C. U.S.A.; The Linnean Society, London, England.