Foraging insects on sweet corn plants at Gazipur in Bangladesh

Surveys were undertaken to determine how many different foraging insect species were associated with sweet corn (variety BU Misti Bhutta 1) plants at Gazipur in Bangladesh. In total 33 different insect species were identified belonging to 25 families of 8 orders namely Ephemeroptera, Odonata, Thysanoptera, Hemiptera, Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, Diptera and Hymenoptera. The insects were divided into major pest, minor pest, predator and casual visitors and they occupied 19.9, 48.4, 8.8 and 22.9% abundance respectively. Only one insect species (Spodoptera frugiperda), of major pest, and 10 species of minor pest, 5 species of predator and 17 species of casual visitor were found. Among the harbored insects, Hemiptera occupied the highest abundance (32.2%) and the aphid ranked the top position (25.5%). The pest species was the most dominant group (0.4), while the highest richness (9.9), diversity (1.2) and evenness (1.0) were observed in case of casual visitors. The population of the major pest exhibited a negative link with minor pests but a positive correlation with casual visitors and predators.