Description

The present research work is an attempt to examine taxonomically significant wing venation and genitalia for characterizing species of noctuid moths. Intensive collections were made for three consecutive years in order to survey the biosystematics of different conifer forests of Himachal Pradesh. Molecular studies were also conducted for genetic differentiation of some noctuids by RAPD-PCR band pattern. Present biosystematics studies resulted in the enumeration of 103 species pertaining to sixty eight genera of family Noctuidae. The genitalia were dissected under Nikon SZM 1500 TrinoculorZoom stereomicroscope. The photography of external male and female genitalia was completed with the Digital Shot DS- Fi2 Frame Grabber and Digital Sight DS-L3 stand alone and analytical unit. The terminology by Klots (1970) has been followed in the present study for naming different structures of genitalia. The Neighbour Joining (NJ) dendrogram has been constructed for the data obtained for the noctuid species. The dendrogram has been constructed by using PHYLIP (Phylogeny inference package) and FREE TREE software, Jaccard correlation coefficient was also studied between the moth species.