Publications

The insects of the Chagos Archipelago

During February and March 1996, the authors surveyed twenty four of the Chagos Archipelago islands for insects. The survey was carried out to provide information for a conservation management plan and to investigate the biogeography of the insects. Many of the insects recorded were typical of Indian Ocean islands. They included widespread species, abundant and well distributed across the Indo-Australian tropics, some commensals of man and species that are regarded as agricultural pests. Thirty six of these species had not been recorded before on the Chagos Archipelago; three of these were recorded on the Great Chagos Bank atoll where no insect recording had been previously carried out. The endemic subspecies of Macroglossum corythus, Junonia villida and Hypolimnus bolina were recorded, the first two in very good numbers, and a new endemic moth species, Sticoptera hironsi was discovered. The ecological requirements of the insect orders observed are detailed and recommendations made for their conservation as part of the Chagos Archipelago conservation management plan.

Authors

Barnett L , Emms C .

Year

1

ISBN-13

9781841030036

Keywords

Coleoptera (beetles),Lepidoptera (butterflies, moths),Dictyoptera (cockroaches, termites, mantids),Orthoptera (crickets),Odonata (dragonflies),Diptera (flies),Hymenoptera (sawflies, bees, wasps, ants),Hemiptera (true bugs), Insects, species list, Sticoptera hironsi