author(s)
ML Agarwal and Vyshnavi Sunil

abstract
Insects are a result of culmination of evolutionary development and vast majority of them occupy different ecological niches. The huge number and great diversity of insects have lead them to express diverse behavioural patterns. The study of animal behaviour is termed ‘ETHOLOGY’. Behaviour is the way in which organisms adjust to and interact with the environment. Most behavioural patterns of insects are generally determined and thus behaviour is ‘stereotyped’. In insects, since the behavioural patterns are essentially the outcome of inherited properties and such patterns are innate. However, some learned patterns are also exhibited by insects. The movement of insects are highly dependent on rhythmic and light reactions. Chemicals like hormones, pheromones also play an important role in modifying behavioural patterns of insects. Insect behaviour has been manipulated and used in many pest management practices. It is also used in identifying species. Behavioural characters like sound and light production, host associations, nest constructions, pheromones, reproductive patterns have pertinent role in separation of closely related taxa or sibling species. The recent use of insect behaviour is the extraction of GFP (Green Flouroscent Protein) which is used for tagging and learning the expression of certain genes. Thus it is necessary to understand the basic behavioural patterns in insects for the behavioural manipulation and their use in successful and eco-friendly management of insect pests.