Diversity and abundance of insect pollinators on muskmelon

A total of eighteen insect species belonging to ten families of three orders were recorded from the muskmelon flowers, of which eleven species belongs to the order Hymenoptera, one from the order Diptera and six from order Lepidoptera. The Hymenopterans are the major floral visitors comprising of four families viz., apidae, megachilidae, scoliidae and nomadinae. Among the insect pollinators, A. dorsata, A. florea and D. plumipes are the most frequent pollinators species. During the study highest number of species recorded was A. dorsata (686) and least was C. lieftincki (27). At the time of flower initiation period, low abundance of major insect pollinators was noticed and attained maximum during the peak flowering period and again becomes low at before the cessation of flowering period. The pollinator, A. dorsata was found to be maximum in relative abundance on muskmelon.