Abundance of nocturnal Lepidoptera and the effect of humidity: A short term study at Jhalawar, Rajasthan, India

Lepidoptera order observed with 3410 specimens belonging 111 species under 18 families. Family Erebidae of Lepidoptera was identified with maximum number of 31 species followed by Noctuidae (24 species), Crambidae (21 species), Geometridae (18 species), Sphingidae (3 species), Pyralidae (2 species). Five families with maximum abundance were Erebidae (939), Noctuidae (826), Crambidae (803), Geomatridae (625) and Pyralidae (37) while five families with minimum abundance were Sphingidae (11), Eutelidae (7), Tineidae (6), Thyrididae (5) and Saturnidae (2). The present research result showed that maximum abundance of nocturnal Lepidoptera was 674 (19.76%) in the range of 60-70% humidity followed by 479 (14.04%) and 380 (11.14%) in the range of 80-90% and 70-80% of humidity. Minimum abundance of nocturnal Lepidoptera was 78 (2.28%) and 58 (1.70%) found in the range of 0-10% and 90-100% humidity.