~ 994 ~ Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies 2016; 4(5): 994-998 E-ISSN: 2320-7078 P-ISSN: 2349-6800 JEZS 2016; 4(5): 994-998 © 2016 JEZS Received: 12-07-2016 Accepted: 13-08-2016 Aftab Raza Khan Department of Biological Sciences, University of Sargodha, Sub-Campus Bhakkar, Pakistan Azhar Abbas Khan Department of Entomology, BZU, Sub-Campus Layyah, Pakistan Mohammad Khalid Mukhtar Department of Zoology, University of Sargodha, Main- Campus Sargodha, Pakistan Musarrat Ramzan Department of Biological Sciences, University of Sargodha, Sub-Campus Bhakkar, Pakistan Correspondence Aftab Raza Khan Department of Biological Sciences, University of Sargodha, Sub-Campus Bhakkar, Pakistan Estimation of abundance, distribution pattern and diversity of cash crop hymenopteran pollinators (Superfamily: Apoidea; Vespoidea) from irrigated areas of district Bhakkar and Layyah, Punjab, Pakistan Aftab Raza Khan, Azhar Abbas Khan, Mohammad Khalid Mukhtar and Musarrat Ramzan Abstract Detailed surveys were conducted during 2015-2016 in irrigated areas of District Bhakkar and Layyah. The main objective of the research was to estimate the abundance, pattern distribution and diversity of hymenopteran insects. Bowl traps containing detergent and hand nets were used in collection of insects. Eight hotspots were selected from each respective district and each hotspot was further divided into four replicates and insects were collected from each hotspot. A total of 7 families of order hymenoptera containing 13 genera from district Bhakkar and 14 genera from district Layyah were collected from respective crops of cotton, maize, millet, mustard and wheat. The maize crop expressed a rich diversity of hymenopterans (2.327) and wheat was the second crop showed the hymenopteran diversity (1.863) from district Bhakkar. Genus Apis was highly abundant in all crop fields and showed a total abundance of 4903 and 5780 from district Bhakkar and Layyah respectively. Nomia bees had maximum abundance of 124 from district Layyah while wasps Polistes (305) and Sceliphron (397) were highly encountered specimen in district Layyah. Keywords: Abundance, diversity, Polistes, Apis, mustard 1. Introduction The purpose of this study was to explore the diversity, abundance and pattern distribution of hymenopteran insects in the irrigated areas of District Bhakkar and Layyah from different crops, because no detailed previous experiments were carried out in order to know hymenopterans and this research would be helpful in utilization of insects to increase crop productivity in these backward areas of these districts. The world food crops are dependent on pollinators and 87 out of 124 principle human used crops are pollinated by wild bees and domestic bees [20, 18] . Hymenopterans are the important flower visitors of significant flowering crops and have a crucial role of pollination in the crop ecosystems [9, 37, 22] . Hymenopterans’ diversity, abundance and pattern of distribution is dependent on nutritional supply and other factors and are a diverse group of insects and contained more than 100,000 species, and bees and wasps were abundant in mustard fields and belonged to 5 families [2] . Rajkumari et al., [32] and Kannagi et al., [17] study revealed that in Jorhat District of Assam, india, 21 families, 42 genera and 50 species of hymenopterans were recorded. In Brassica juncea crops, hymenopterans were abundant and belonged to 15 species of Apis and non-Apis bees and scoliid wasps [10] . After soybean and oil palm, mustard and rapeseed are the most significant crops which are pollinated by insects especially hymenopterans [1] . Feral honey bees and wild bees are major pollinators of cotton crops and are helpful in increasing crop productivity in organic farms than conventional farms [30] . The following objectives were defined: to collect different hymenopteran insects by using bowl traps and hand nets and to measure the abundance, diversity and pattern distribution of hymenopteran pollinators. 2.1 Materials and Methods A detailed survey of irrigated areas of district Bhakkar and Layyah was conducted during 2015-2016 in order to collect the hymenopteran pollinators and wheat, maize, millet, mustard, and cotton were selected for the study.