342| © www.globalsciencepg.org Biolife | 2015 | Vol 3 | Issue 1 B I O L I F E R E S E A R C H A R T I C L E DIVERSITY OF INSECTA: ORTHOPTERA OF KANCHIPURAM DISTRICT IN TAMIL NADU D. Prabakar 1 , S. Prabakaran 2 , Y. Chezhian3, D. Vimala 4 and R. Sundararaj 5 1-5 Zoological Survey of India, Southern Regional Centre, Chennai - 600 028 Institute of Wood Science and Technology, Bangalore- 560003 E-mail: dprabakar14@gmail.com ABSTRACT The Order Orthoptera includes short horned and long horned grasshoppers, crickets and grouse locusts. These insects range from sizes less than 5 mm to 115 mm. They are distributed worldwide and mainly in warmer regions and are in the temperate zone. They are found in all terrestrial habitats from subterranean burrows and caves to tree tops, and from dense forest to savanna and deserts. Most of them are phytophagus. The order Orthoptera is one of the largest having over 20,000 species worldwide with about 10% of the total world species (1,750 species) recorded from India (Hirdesh Kumar and Mohd. Kamil Usmani, 2014). The paper presents the checklist and diagnostic characters of orthoptera of Kanchipuram district along with their known distribution which includes 12 species/subspecies of belonging to 9 genera under 2 Suborder, 3 Superfamilies, 3 families and 7 subfamilies. Key words: Orthoptera, Grasshopper diversity, Kanchipuram district, Eastern Ghats. INTRODUCTION Kanchipuram district is situated on the North East coast of Tamil Nadu. It is bound by Bay of Bengal in the East, Vellore and Thiruvannamalai districts in the west, Thiruvallur and Chennai districts in the north, and Villuppuram district in the south. It lies between 11° 00' to 12° 00' latitudes and 77° 28' to 78° 50' longitudes. The district has a total geographical area of 4, 43,210 hectares and a coastline of 57 km. The pre- monsoon rainfall is almost uniform throughout the district. The coastal regions receive more rainfall than the interior ones. The district is mainly dependent on the monsoon rains. Failure of monsoon leads to distress condition. Northeast and Southwest monsoon are the major donors, with 54% and 36% contribution each to the total annual rainfall. During normal monsoon, the district receives a rainfall of 1200 mm.The Palaru River is the most important river running through the district. Through most of the year it remains dry, attributed to the construction of dams across the river in Andhra Pradesh. There are only a few hills of considerable elevation in the district. The southern part of Maduranthakam taluk contains small hills. The total forest area in the district is 23,586 hectares. Agriculture forms the primary occupation of the people with 47 percent of the population of this district are engaged in it. Paddy is the major crop cultivated in this district AN INTERNATIONAL QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF BIOLOGY & LIFE SCIENCES 3(1):342-352 ISSN (online): 2320-4257 www.biolifejournals.com How to cite this article: D. Prabakar, S. Prabakaran, Y. Chezhian, D. Vimala and R. Sundararaj (2015). Diversity of insecta: Orthoptera of Kanchipuram district in Tamil Nadu. Biolife, 3(1), pp 343-349. doi:10.17812/blj2015.31.31.1; Published online: March, 2015