Distributional record of insect diversity in different altitudes of Shimla Hills, Himachal Pradesh, India

A study on the insect diversity for four orders i.e. Lepidoptera, Orthoptera, Hymenoptera and Coleoptera in different eco-climatic altitudes of Shimla hills revealed that at an altitude of 400–1800m, a total 45 species of insect fauna from four insect orders were recorded, of which 14 were abundant, 15 uncommon and 16 were rare to the area. The order Lepidoptera was represented by 26, Orthoptera 07, Hymenoptera 08 and Coleoptera 04 species. A total 59 species were also recorded from 1800-2200m altitude under four orders, among these 19 species were uncommon and 40 rare. Out of these 32, 11, 08 and 08 species belonged to orders Lepidoptera, Orthoptera, Hymenoptera and Coleoptera respectively. While at an altitude of 2200-2600m 51 species of order Lepidoptera (24 spp.), Orthoptera (11 spp.), Hymenoptera (07 spp.) and Coleoptera (09 spp.) were collected, of which 46 species were rare and 5 uncommon to the hills.