Diversity of insect pollinators on Citrullus lanatus thunb

Abstract

Abstract The interaction between insect pollinator and crops is a mutualism association, in which plants provide feed for insects and plants to benefit in the pollination process. So that insect pollinators are the biological agents of fruit production. This study aims to analyze the diversity of pollinating insects, and to know their effectiveness in the watermelon production (Citrullus lanatus Thunb.). Observation of visiting insect community was conducted by scan sampling method. Visiting activity of insect pollinator were observed based on lenght of visit per flower and number of flowers visited per minute. The Result showed that 7 species of insects visitors, were pollinator of Citrullus lanatus flower i.e. Amegilla sp, Ceratina sp, Lasioglossum sp, Nomia sp, Cerceris sp, Ischiodon scutellaris and Polistes stigma. The highest abundance i.e. Lasioglossum sp (98 individuals) and Ceratina sp (81 individuals). The highest diversity of insect pollinators was found in the morning (07.00-10.00). The community similarity based Bray-Curtis similarity index was highest between 10.00 - 12.00 and 14.00 - 16.00 o’clock.