author(s)
AA Shinde, SM Dadmal, ND Gajbe and VA Mane

abstract
Present investigation was carried out at Department of Entomology, Dr. PDKV Akola (MS) India during kharif 2016. It is revealed from the survey that, Bt cotton ecosystem harbored total 22 insect fauna out of which 14 insects were categorized as pests and 8 were natural enemies (NEs), besides eight species of predatory spiders were recorded. In Bt cotton ecosystem whiteflies, leafhoppers, aphids, mite, thrips, red cotton bugs were found in abundance during 34^th, 35th, 36th SMW. Whereas, natural enemies viz; spiders, lady bird beetles, mallada, syrphid fly, ant and chrysopa were found predominantly during 35^th, 36^th, 37^th and 38^th SMW. The simple correlation studies indicated that rainfall had a significantly negative correlation with semilooper, whitefly, leafhopper population. However, positive significant association was noticed between maximum relative humidity with fruit borer, ash weevil, syrphid fly, white flies, chafer beetle and spider population. High percent abundance was recorded by aphids followed by leaf hoppers, whiteflies, mites, thrips and red cotton bugs with moderate to rich biodiversity of arthropod fauna was noticed in Bt cotton (H'= 2.193) crop ecosystem at Akola.