Abstract:
Arthropods are considered as the most successful animal group which consists of more
than two-third of all animal species on earth. Class Insecta comprise about 90% of tropical
forest biomass (Fatimah & Catherine 2002). Order Lepidoptera is the most diverse and
second largest in class Insecta (Benton, 1995). Moths constitute the sub-order Heterocera
of order Lepidoptera that has important roles in the forest ecosystem as herbivores and as
food for predatory and parasitic species (Sivasanakaran K. et al. 2011). The present study
was conducted at K M to evaluate the biodiversity of moths. During the present study, a
total of 17 moth specimens were collected from the study area which represented a total of
5 Families distributed among 11 Genera and 13 Species. The highest species richness was
shown by the family Erebidae and the least by the family Geometridae. The results of this
preliminary study are promising; it sheds light on the unknown biodiversity of KM which
needs to be strengthened through comprehensive future survey. This work help in future to
conduct a moth diversity study easily and also help to find out the extinct, extant and
threatened species in that particular area.
