One hundred and fifty four localities covering fourteen states/union territories were explored through intensive and extensive surveys during 2003–07. Thirty one states/union territories were covered on the basis of collected/reference specimens of lepidopterous insects associated with vegetables in India studied in the National Pusa Collection, Division of Entomology, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi. About 738 specimens belonging to 18 families under 11 superfamilies of order Lepidoptera had been collected from the field and 22 crops of vegetables were covered. A checklist prepared on lepidopterous insects associated with vegetables in India reveals that it comprises 152 species under 25 families and 14 superfamilies 110 species belonging to 21 families and 11 superfamilies were recorded in the present study. The observations reveal that the major superfamilies are Noctuoidea (62 species; 40.67%) and Pyraloidea (30 species; 19.33%); major families include Noctuidae (37 species; 24.34%) and Crambidae (25 species; 16.45%). The investigations on the nature of damage reveal that 40.79% are leaf feeders, 8.55% are pod borers, 7.89% each are fruit borers, defoliators and leaf rollers, 5.26% each are bud borers and leaf webbers, and 4.61% each are cut worms, leaf miners and stem borers. The salient details of their hosts, pest status or otherwise and their updated names and classification are provided.
Vegetables, lepidopterous insects, biodiversity, pest status, India
