Diversity and Species Stability of Drosophilidae from Two Vegetation of Chikkaballapura District, Karnataka State

The diversity of Drosophilidae was studied from the Grape yard (vineyard) and Tree vegetation from Chikkaballapura district of Karnataka state. The collection was carried out from October 2020 to September 2021 by bottle trapping method. The collected males were identified using body pigmentation, sex comb and genital plate. Diversity indices and similarity indices were estimated. Population stability models were employed to understand the species-environment interaction for stable possession of the niches. Seven species were recorded where five species were common to both the habitats, while Drosophila bipectinata and Amiota sp. were exclusive to tree vegetation. Two invasive species, Zaprionus indianus and Drosophila suzukii were recorded for the first time from both the habitats. Z. indianus was the dominant species in both the vegetations comprising of 82.6% (1547/1874) of the total flies in tree vegetation and 57% (282/494) of the total flies from the grape yard. D. melanogaster has been recorded as accessory species (29.75%) in the grape yard while as accidental species (6.51%) in tree vegetation. The Simpson diversity indicated that the grape yard was more diverse (0.5777) than tree vegetation (0.3107). The Student t-test did not show any significant difference in the distribution of the species in these two habitats (p > 0.05) except for Z. indianus and D. bipectinata (p < 0.001). Francis coefficient of variation, Determination coefficient, and Perkins & Jinks models showed that Z. indianus was the most stable species constituent of the drosophilids recorded.