Status of insects and fungi intercepted from wood imported into India

Logs of many species are imported into India either in dry or semi dry condition for uses ranging from structural material for construction to finished products including panel products and furniture. The common timber species imported are Tectona grandis (Teak), Intsia palembanica (Merbau), Dipterocarpus indicus (Gurjan), Shorea spp. (Sal) Nauclea diderrichii (Kussia) and Pinus radiata (Pine). 32 species of insects belonging to Coleoptera and Hymenoptera and 22 species of fungi reported on imported timbers were analysed for their family wise and timber-wise distribution and their status as to whether they are known in India or not. Among them one species of ant, Acanthomyrmex luciolae Emery is a new introduction to India as Acanthomyrmex as a genus itself is not known from India. Many of the identified insects and fungi are already known to have distribution in India. Some of them identified at genus level are also reported from India, but as the species were not identified, it could not be concluded whether those species are indigenous or exotic. All the fungi identified at least up to the generic level were found reported in India and none of them were found to be strictly exotic.