author(s)
S Sikdar, TK Hath, M Chatterjee, D Chakraborty and B Patra

abstract
A field experiment was carried out at the instructional farm of the varsity, Uttar Banga Krishi Viswa Vidyalaya, at terai agro-climatic zone of West Bengal (India) during Rabi season of 2015 and 2016 to monitor the foraging activity of different flower visiting insects on some seed spices like fennel, black cumin and coriander. Local varieties of fennel and black cumin along with coriander variety Debcor-88 were considered for the study and foraging time of different insects were recorded during the blossoming period of the spice crops. This is the first ever work in this area. Results revealed that a total of 18 species of insects belonging to 5 orders visited coriander flowers while 25 insect species from 5 orders were recorded from fennel flowers. In case of black cumin, the number of flower visiting insects was 11 under 4 orders. Maximum of the Hymenopteran pollinators were found to visit the flowers between 12.00 hrs to 13.00 hrs followed by 9.00- 10.00 hrs in the morning and 15.00- 16.00 hrs in the afternoon. Dipteran visitors were highly active during morning between 9.00 - 10.00 hrs. Their abundance noticeably reduced during 15.00-16.00 hrs in the afternoon and lowest activity was observed during 12.00-13.00 hrs in the noon. Lepidopteran insects had shown highest foraging activity during 12.00-13.00 hrs. The foraging activity of the Coleopteran insects was the highest during the morning from 9.00-10.00 hrs and their activity decreased during the noon from 12.00-13.00 hrs and increased again during the afternoon hours.