Morphology and Burrowing Behaviour of Schizodactylus minor of Pakistan

The genus Schizodactylus Brulle comprises seven species throughout the world. Of these S. monstrous (Drury) and S. minor (Ander) occur along the shores of River Indus in Pakistan. At the present, S. minor is recorded for the first time form this area and female is described for the first time in the world. Present study deals with morphology, distinctive characters regarding their roll up of the winged margin, ecology with burrow habitat and carnivorous behaviour. However, during burrow formation S. minor damaged the under ground roots of the plants. The intervals between the individual burrow varied between 12 to 30 cm on an area of 20-30 m wide and 550 m long The deepest burrow of an adult was recorded at 35.25 plus or minus 8.50 cm in depth and the shortest burrow was recorded only at 23.2 plus or minus 4.36 cm, depth due to wet soil and the low altitude.