Insect drift over the northern Arabian sea in early summer

Air borne insects, mostly carried by wind currents, were trapped over the n orthern Arabian sea (16 degrees to 20 degrees N; 68 degrees to 72 degrees E ), in the course of cruise No. 111, ORV SAGAR KANYA (March 14 to April 7, 1 996). A total of 2,301 insects belonging to 8 different orders, 47 families and 173 species were trapped. Of these, Hymenoptera was represented by the largest number (1082), which was followed by Hemiptera (586), Diptera (552 ), Coleoptera (51), Neuroptera (10), Trichoptera (03), Lepidoptera (03) and Orthoptera (01). The trapped insects were mostly between 0.6 mm to over 11 mm long. The data was examined for alpha-diversity as well as for possible correlations between various parameters like the diversity index, site and number of insects trapped on one hand and the distance of the nearest land mass in wind direction, on the other.