DIVERSITY OF ARTHROPODS IN AN ORGANICALLY CULTIVATED MUSTARD ECOSYSTEMSourav Pathak and Vishal Walmik DhoteAbstract During the experiment, fifty- nine different arthropods were recorded belonging to twelve different orders. The arthropods were categorized considering the role of induvial arthropod in the crop ecosystem. The insect pest recorded includes mustard aphid, Lipaphis erysimi, Mustard Sawfly, Athalia sp., Diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella, etc. The helpful activities of twenty- two arthropods were also noticed. Among them, different species of honey bees were dominating pollinators and Coccinella transversalis and Cheilomenes sexmaculata were major predators. The substantial parasitization of aphids by Diaeretiella rapae was also documented. Among the different orders of arthropods, Lepidoptera (27%) was the dominant order in terms of the number of species followed by Hymenoptera (20%) and Hemiptera (15 %). |