Agricultural production constitutes one of the important economic development factors that generates important incomes. Among many Insects, Acarina, Birds, Mammals and diseases that attack crops, the stinking locust, Zonocerus variegatus (Hyménoptère : Pygomorphidae) is a fearsome devastater of crops in the region. This study was conducted to study the population, the distribution of Zonocerus variegatus, its action modes in the field, and to identify its parasitoids in Kisangani.
The study was carried out on food cultivation fields. Data were collected from July 2015 for six months, using a sweeping net. Two field works were conducted monthly. Stinking locusts were collected on fields and parasitoids around the fields (fallowland). Z. variegatus develops in 7 post-embryonic stages of which six larval and one adult stages.
The data analysis showed abundance of larvae, from stage 1 to 6. Zonocerus variegatus larva appeared superior to the one of stage 7. We observed that larvae are more damaging than adults. 22.31% of Zonocerus variegatus specimens were collected on cassava fields while 5.03% were captured on maize and cassava fields. We collected more Zonocerus variegatus in March (32.6%). Their abundance also proves their aggressiveness to crops. In total, twenty families of parasitoids were collected and distributed into seven super-families. We captured more parasitoids in February (32.83%) than in other months. May is less rich with 4.60%. Scelionidae family largely dominates the others with 23.64% parasitoid specimens, followed by Bethylidae 20.08% and Platygastridae 16.70%. The poorest families are Charipidae (0.19%) and Tanaostigmatidae (0.19%).
The study is a contribution to the knowledge of Rodents and Shrews diversity in Yasikia forest, located at 31 Km from Kisangani, on the road towards Opala. On transects, Rodents and Shrews were sampled using the protocol with [xPF, ySH]. A total of 13 sampling lines were observed during 15 days (from March 26 to 11 April 2015). As results, we collected 74 shrews, belonging to two genera at least 9 species; 68 rodents which represent 9 genera and 12 species. In total, we collected 145 small mammals, with a trapping effort of 6478 trap-nights. The specific biodiversity and trappingsuccess showed that Pitfall traps are the most efficient to capture Shrews. It also catches small Rodents and adult such as N.cf.grata, and other adults’ rodents as Praomys genera, but with reduced number. Sherman traps are more effective to catch Rodents. They also catch shrews in reduced number. The trappings were conducted in three habitats. In the primary forest G. dewevrei (EC = 1060 night-traps, 50 specimens, 14 species, and TS = 4.72%), mixed primary forest (EC = 1500 night-traps, 69 specimens, 15 species, and TS = 4.6%) and fallow land (EC = 440 night-traps, 23 specimens, 9 species, and TS = 5.23%). No new species was announced but rather the presence of three endemic species of which two (C. Goliath and L. huttereri) are rare.