Diversity and abundance of parasitoid fauna associated with the pests of certain medicinal plants of West Bengal

A preliminary study was conducted from 2021 to 2022 to explore the parasitoid fauna associated with insect pests and their per cent parasitism levels in the field as well as to understand the diversity of parasitoids in the medicinal plants ecosystem under northern tracts of West Bengal. In course of the study, a total of ten parasitoid species belonging to 5 families from 2 orders were observed in this ecosystem. Hymenopteran parasitoids were dominant, i.e., more than 90% and only one fly parasitoid species from Diptera belonging to the family Tachinidae was observed. Amongst the hymenopteran parasitoids, braconids were the prime species, found parasitizing various insect pests. All these parasitoids were observed attacking lepidopteran caterpillars which were predominant defoliators on various medicinal plants. The per cent parasitism by Copidosoma sp. on Helcystogramma hibisci was 38% which was the highest and found effective in the suppression of pest population.