Diversity of White Grubs (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) in Dakshina Kannada District, Karnataka, India

White grubs, also known as May or June beetles belong to the family Scarabaeidae of Coleoptera. A study assessed the species diversity and distribution of these in Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka. Adult beetles were collected with light traps and manually from March to July, 2018 and 2019. The collection of 179 specimens resulted in 17 species belonging to nine genera of Melolonthinae and Rutelinae. Melolonthinae was slightly more speciose over Rutelinae with ten species under seven genera, whereas Rutelinae was represented by seven species under two genera. Overall, Sophrops karschi (Brenske) was the predominant species constituting 40.22% followed by Anomalochela bicolor subsp. belgaumensis Moser and Apogonia sp.1 (10.06% each). More number of species were documented in Belthangady region than Dharmasthala and Vittla. The data subjected to diversity indices revealed low species diversity in terms of evenness as species composition was skewed towards five species viz., Sophrops karschi, Anomalochela bicolor subsp. belgaumensis, Apogonia sp.1, Miridiba excisa and Adoretus versutus, which constituted nearly 79%.