Diversity and Abundance of Insects in and Around Faculty of Agriculture, Shabu-Lafia Campus of Nasarawa State University, Nigeria.

t The current survey was conducted to give a preliminary inventory on the composition and abundance of insects in and around the shabu-lafia campus of Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Nigeria. Sampling were done weekly from dawn to dusk using sweep net and hand picking techniques from the months of April to August 2017. Insect species recovered were identified in the insect museum of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. The composition, relative abundance, frequency of occurrence and, some diversity indices were computed. Insect species with relative abundance ≥ 1 % and frequency of occurrence ≥ 25 % were classified as dominant. A total of 243 individuals from 8 orders, 23 families and, 47 species (9 of which were dominant) were recovered. Members belonging to order orthoptera were the most abundant followed by lepidoptera and coleoptera (relative abundance; 57.19 %, 16.05 % and 14.81 %, respectively). Cantatops asthmaticus and Cantatops annulatus were the most predominant insect species. Even though, order orthoptera was the most diverse (Shannon’s index = 2.438); coleopteran had the highest richness index (Margalef’s index = 3.349). The diversity (Shannon’s index = 3.349), richness index (Margalef’s index = 8.374) and evenness index (Buzas and Gibson’s = 0.662) of the study area were all high. Further work need to be done in the study area by expanding the scope and duration of the study area and also, by employing different sampling techniques.