Our Correspondent
Imphal, Dec. 29 (EMN): Scientists have reported six new water beetles responsible for nutrient recycling and natural food web from Manipur for the first time in India.
These new water beetles - Elmomophes brevicornis, Enochrus nigropiceus, Helochares atropiceus, Chasmogenus abnormalis, Paracymus Sp. and Hydrocanthus guinuoti, reported from wetlands in Manipur are yet to be listed in Zoological Survey of India records.
These new water beetles locally known as Tharaikokpi macha varieties were detected and identified during the course of a three-year study on importance of aquatic beetles (coleoptera), in freshwater eco-systems of Manipur by Dr M Bhubaneshwari Devi, a zoology teacher in Manipur’s premier DM College of Science in association with Senior research fellow O Sandhyarani. The study concluded in Dec., 2017.
“In fact, 22 water beetles (out of recorded 65 water beetles belonging to coleoptera order) were reported for the first time in Manipur in our study across nine wetland sites under eight districts,” says Senior research fellow Sandhyarani. “These newly reported beetles from Manipur belong to different families and numbers of Dytiscid and Hydrophid beetles are abundant in the study.”
The said nine wetland sites in Manipur are Porompat, Lamphelpat, Lousipat, Loktakpat, Leimaram, Thawai, Noney, Moreh and Tuibong.
The aquatic beetles are an important part of most aquatic ecosystems both in larval and adult stages and they are responsible for nutrient recycling and natural food web in the freshwater eco-systems besides functioning as bio-indicator (of the wetland water quality). They also eat water fleas, flatworms, mosquito larvae, frog tadpoles etc, according to Dr Bhubaneshwari.
Sandhyarani who actively involved in the research works on insects in North East India however expressed her desire to explore more on aquatic insect world considering its importance in conserving the rich biodiversity of the region.
“We cannot study much on issues relating to climate change impact etc. due to limited resources. Who knows the recent floods might have impacted to aquatic insects a lot,” she felt. Manipur has witnessed five times flood since cyclone ‘Mora’ hit the state since May end this year.
In their previous study on diversity of insect fauna in Loktak Lake of Manipur, Dr Bhubaneshwari and Sandhyarani had also reported that many Edible aquatic insects (out of 31) are vanishing from Loktak, the largest freshwater lake in North East and natural habitat of around 100 aquatic insects due to the ongoing degradation of the lake’s biodiversity.
Naosek (Lethocerus indicus), the giant water bug, Tharaikokpi (cybister), a genus of water beetle, Konjeng Kokphai (Diplonychus rusticus), another water bug and Long Khajing (Gerris Lacustris), the common pond skater and Maikhumbi (Baetidae), a family of mayflies, etc are some of the edible aquatic insects in Manipur.
