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We present the first documentation of the insect fauna of Lalwan Community Reserve and Ranjit Sagar Conservation Reserve, Punjab.  The survey was conducted in the months of May and June 2019.  Selected insect groups were focused on for the rapid documentation of the entomofauna.  Overall, we recorded 91 species of insects belonging to the orders Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, and Odonata.  A total of 68 species including 46 species of order Lepidoptera, nine species of Odonata, and 13 species of Coleoptera were reported from Lalwan Community Reserve. Thirty-seven species consisting of 23 species of Odonata and 14 species of Lepidoptera were recorded from Ranjit Sagar Conservation Reserve, Punjab.

Diversity and similarity of butterfly communities were assessed in three different habitat types in the mountains of Nahan, Himachal Pradesh, from May 2012 to April 2013. A total of 75 species and five families were reported. Proportion of species was highest in deciduous dry forest (49%), followed by Shorea (Saal) forest (34%), and Pinus (Cheer) forest (17%). Family Pieridae was dominant followed by Nymphalidae in all three habitat types. Cluster analysis revealed that Cheer forest  stood out clearly from Dry and Saal forest which represents the different species composition. We found significant differences in butterfly diversity in the three forest types based on Shannon index, Simpson dominance index, and Buzas & Gibson’s evenness. These differences may be attributable to variations in host and nectar plant distribution. Of the habitats surveyed, dry deciduous forest appeared to be the most suitable for butterfly conservation.

The nesting activity, life cycle, and brood ball morphometry of the dung beetle Oniticellus cinctus (Fabricius, 1775) (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) were studied under laboratory conditions for the first time in India.  The females made a brood chamber within the dung mass provided, wherein they made brood balls to lay eggs.  The life cycle includes egg, larva (three instars), pupa, and adult stages.  The total duration for the development was about one month.  The study found that there was a significant difference present in the brood ball diameter (except in the first and second instars) and brood ball weight (except in the second instar and pupa) of the six life cycle stages.  It was also found that brood ball weight and diameter have a significant positive correlation as well as a linear relationship.

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