Ecological patterns in staphylinidae (Insecta: Coleoptera) in cropped and forest areas of the Punjab,Pakistan

The type of locality and seasons had a great effect on species composition (richness and abundance) and community structure of rove beetles. this was determined in 3 forest and 8 cultivated areas of the punjab from january 2008 to december 2009. a total of 2,386 specimens belonging to 26 species were captured by using 5 different collection methods,i.e. pitfall traps,flight intercept trap,light trap,berlese funnel trap and netting. each area was sampled for four days with an interval of 2 months. the percentage population of different species and shannon-wiener diversity index was calculated. maximum species richness and abundance was observed during rainy season (july-august). even a single specimen of paederus fuscipes curt.,philonthus cinotulus kr.,philonthus gemellus kr.,myrmecopora elegans cam.,tachyporus himalayicus bernh.,and astilbus mixtus cam. was not found from forest area during the whole period of collection. overall,paederus fuscipes was the species with the highest population (16.05%),while tachyporus himalayicus with the lowest (0.22 %). high α-diversity index (20.804) and shannon-wiener (2.573) were found from sargodha in 2008 and gutwala in 2009.their lowest values (9.76) and (1.82) respectively were found from rawalpindi in 2008. © 2016,university of agriculture. all rights reserved.