LONG-DISTANCE MIGRATION OF APHIDS AND OTHER SMALL INSECTS IN NORTHEAST INDIA

Aerial netting at a height of 150 m over West Bengal during November p roduced evidence for extensive nocturnal migrations of a number of ins ect taxa, including aphids, leafhoppers, Nilaparvata lugens (the brown planthopper) and Cyrtorhinus lividipennis (a mirid predator of plant- and leafhoppers). Preliminary trajectory analysis was undertaken for aphids (particularly Lipaphis erysimi) overflying the experimental sit e, and it was estimated from the timing and altitude of flight, and fr om the winds prevailing at the time, that the long-flying individuals may have originated from sources between 100 and 300 km away to the no rtheast.