author(s)
A Kuzhandhaivel Pillai, M Ganesh Kumar and S Kuttalam

abstract
A field experiment was conducted to inventorize the arthropods diversity in grapes ecosystem during November 2013 to February 2014 in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu (India). The sampling of arthropods were made using four different methods viz., active searching, net sweeping, pitfall trap and rubbish trap. The collected arthropods were sorted out, identified to the lowest possible taxon and the biodiversity indices were estimated. The field was kept free from pesticide application. A total of 2983 individuals belonging to 12 orders and 44 families with 68 species were collected from grapes ecosystem. The class Insecta (2650 individuals) was the most dominant followed by Arachnida (333 individuals). In Insecta, exopterygota were represented by six orders and endopterygota were represented by five orders. In class, Arachnida, a total of 16 species recorded from seven families. Lycosidae was the dominant family followed by Salticidae. The biodiversity indices were worked out and at species level the alpha and Shanon-weiner indices were the highest during the second week of January (19.838 and 3.4245). The evenness index based on ordinal, generic and species level the value was the highest during the second week of January (0.83474, 0.80162 and 0.81158, respectively). This study stand as a base for further research in the biodiversity of arthropods in grapes ecosystem.