DIVERSITY OF SOIL DWELLING INSECTS ASSOCIATED WITH CORN CROP (Zea mays L.) AT LA MOLINA / LIMA / PERU

In order to determine the composition, abundance and diversity of soil dwelling insects in an agricultural field of corn production (5 ha), in the district of La Molina (Lima, Peru), 12 pit falls were installed, which were evaluated weekly for approximately 4 months (March-June). Collective samples were processed by separating individuals by morphotypes, recording the quantity and date of the collection. Finally, the specimens were identified in the Laboratory of the Klaus Raven Buller Entomology Museum with the help of identification keys and, in some cases, by comparison with museum specimens. Individuals of the orders Orthoptera (Families Acrididae and Gryllidae); Dermaptera (Family Anisolabididae); Coleoptera (Families Carabidae, Staphylinidae, Tenebrionidae, Scarabaeidae and Elateridae); and Hymenoptera (Family Formicidae) were identified. Order Hymenoptera was the most abundant with genus Linepithema sp. (Family Formicidae). Order Coleoptera registered the highest number of identified morphospecies, among which Blennidus peruvianus was the most predominant. The analysis of diversity gave a high value of Simpson's dominance index ( 0.91 +/- 0.006), whereas the Shannon index value was intermediate (2.67 +/- 0.05). The Chao1 and ACE estimators indicated that the specific richness observed in the field was very close to the estimated, giving a sampling effort between 81.9 and 84.7 %.