Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 February 2016 | 8(2): 8533–8537
Long-horned grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) in Radhanagari Wildlife Sanctuary, Maharashtra, India
Sunil M. Gaikwad 1, Yogesh J. Koli 2, Gopal A. Raut 3, Sadashiv H. Waghmare 4 & Ganesh P. Bhawane 5
1,3,4,5 Department of Zoology, Shivaji University, Kolhapur, Maharashtra 416004, India
2 Sant Rawool Maharaj College, Kudal, Maharashtra 416520, India
1 gaikwadsm@rediffmail.com (corresponding author), 2 dryjkoli@gmail.com, 3 rautgopal189@gmail.com, 4 waghmaresh@yahoo.com, 5 drgpbhawane@rediffmail.com
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.11609/jott.2574.8.2.8533-8537 | ZooBank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:9DAC7B51-13ED-4A7D-AE19-949204EB1393
Editor: Anonymity requested. Date of publication: 26 February 2016 (online & print)
Manuscript details: Ms # 2574 | Received 23 June 2015 | Final received 04 February 2016 | Finally accepted 10 February 2016
Citation: Gaikwad, S.M., Y.J. Koli, G.A. Raut, S.H. Waghmare & G.P. Bhawane (2016). Long-horned grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) in Radhanagari Wildlife Sanctuary, Maharashtra, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 8(2): 8533–8537; http://dx.doi.org/10.11609/jott.2574.8.2.8533-8537
Copyright: © Gaikwad et al. 2016. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. JoTT allows unrestricted use of this article in any medium, reproduction and distribution by providing adequate credit to the authors and the source of publication.
Funding: University Grants Commisssion, New Delhi.
Conflict of Interest: The authors declare no competing interests.
Acknowledgments: Authors are thankful to University Grants Commission, New Delhi for financial assistance; Head, Department of Zoology, Shivaji University, Kolhapur providing facilities; Dr. Sigfrid Ingrisch and G. Srinivasan for kind help in identification. Authors are also thankful to Dr. K. Venkatraman, Director, Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata and Dr. R.M. Sharma, Officer-in-Charge, Zoological Survey of India, Pune for providing the specimens for present work.
Members of the family Tettigoniidae are commonly known as long-horned grasshoppers and katydids. Earlier, Barman & Srivastava (1976), Barman (2003), Ingrisch & Shishodia (2000), Shishodia (2000), and Ingrisch & Muralirangan (2003) have produced major work on Indian Tettigoniidae. Kulkarni & Shishodia (2004) reported eight species of long-horned grasshopper from Pench National Park. Senthilkumar et al. (2006) studied the orthopteran fauna from Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary, Assam. Chandra et al. (2007) published a checklist of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh tettigoniids including other orthopteran insects. Senthikumar (2010) studied the Orthopteroids in Kaziranga National Park, Assam. Shishodia et al. (2010) published a checklist including 160 species and subspecies of tettigoniids from India, out of these 18 species are recorded from Maharashtra. Chandra & Gupta (2012) have compiled the list of Tettigoniidae from Maharashtra based on the deposited material in Zoological Survey of India, Pune and Kolkata, which contains 18 species belonging to 18 genera. Srinivasan & Prabakar (2012) have reported 10 species of Tettigoniidae belonging to 10 genera from different localities of Arunachal Pradesh. This group of insects was previously rather poorly known because the majority of Tettigoniidae are nocturnal insects that are associated with vegetation, particularly during inactive periods when they retreat into leaves but even ground dwelling, use burrows in the soil (Kevan 1989) and holes in wood and thus not easily collected. Tettigoniids are mixed feeders, feeding on vegetation, seeds, carrion and occasional prey (Gwynne & Morris 2002).
The present study was directed to study the diversity of tettigoniids from Radhanagari Wildlife Sanctuary, which is spread along the hilly terrain of the Sahyadri ranges of Western Ghats, located in Radhanagari Tehsil of Kolhapur District, Maharashtra, India. It lies within the latitude range of 16010”–16030”N & 73052”–74014”E, with the altitude range of 530–1033 m. It covers an area about 351.16km2. The Sanctuary consists of southern semi-evergreen, moist mixed deciduous and evergreen type of forest with mixed patches of grassland (www.mahaforest.nic.in).
Long-horned grasshoppers were sampled with the help of light trap and battery torch by hand picking method during night hours (19:00–23:00 hr) from January, 2012 to December,2014. They were killed and preserved by dry preservation method and deposited at Zoological Survey of India, Western Regional Centre, Pune. They were identified with the help http://orthoptera.speciesfile.org, Srinivasan and Prabakar (2012) and by comparing with reference collection at Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata and Pune regional centre. Identification of some specimens was done by Dr. Sigfrid Ingrisch up to genus level.
The study resulted in the enumeration of 11 species of long-horned grasshoppers. Out of these nine species are known from Maharashtra and Phyllozelus (Phyllozelus) siccus siccus and Hexacentrus unicolor are new locality records.
Order: Orthoptera
Suborder: Ensifera
Superfamily: Tettigonioidea
Family: Tettigoniidae
Subfamily: Phaneropterinae
Genus: Himertula Uvaro, 1940
1. Himertula kinneari (Uvaro, 1923) (Image 1)
Material examined: Ent.5/1443/ZSI, Pune, 2 females, 1 male, 09.iii.2013, Radhanagari WS, coll. S.M. Gaikwad,
Distribution: India: Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal; Bhutan and Nepal.
Habitat: This species is generally found on grass.
Remark: This species was previously recorded from Maharashtra, from Bombay in 1923 by Uvarov (1923).
Genus Letana Walker, 1869
2. Letana megastridula Ingrisch, 1990 (Image 2)
Material Examined: Ent.5/1444/ZSI, Pune, 1 female, 13.i.2012, 1 male, 23.xii.2012; 3 males, 1 female, 17.xi.2013. Radhanagari WS, coll. Y.J. Koli.
Distribution: India: Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
Habitat: This species is generally found on grass. Adults are prevalent in the months of October and November.
Remarks: It is easily recognized by black or reddish dots on body and legs.
Genus Ducetia Stal, 1874
3. Ducetia japonica (Thunberg, 1815) (Image 3)
Material Examined: Ent.5/1445/ZSI, Pune, 1 male, 26.xi.2012, 1 female, 18.xii.2012, Radhanagari WS, coll. S.M. Gaikwad.
Distribution: India: Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Odisha, Rajastan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal; Australia, Bangladesh, Borneo, China, Formosa, Hainan, Indo-China, Japan, Java, Kuala Lumpur, Myanmar, Nepal, New Guinea, Pakistan, Philippines, Selangor, Singapore, Solomon, Island, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tibet and Tonkin.
Habitat: This species is associated with grass. It is found in hilly areas as well as plains. Adults are common during the months of December and January.
Remarks: This species was previously recorded from Maharashtra, from Bombay by Nadkerny (1965).
Genus: Trigonocorypha, Stal, 1873
4. Trigonocorypha unicolor (Stoll, 1787) (Image 4)
Material Examined: Ent.5/1446/ZSI, Pune, 1 female, 01.iii.2013, Radhanagari WS, coll. S.M. Gaikwad.
Distribution: India: Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal; Java and Sri Lanka.
Remark: Recorded recently from Kolhapur, Maharashtra by Koli et al. (2014).
Subfamily: Conocephalinae
Genus Conocephalus Thunberg, 1815
Subgenus Anisoptera, Latreille, 1829
5. Conocephalus (Anisoptera) maculatus (Le Guillou, 1841) (Image 5)
Material Examined: Ent.5/1447/ZSI, Pune, 2 males, 2 females, 3.i.2013, 1 male, 7.ii.2014, Radhanagari WS, coll. S.M. Gaikwad.
Distribution: India: Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttarakhand and West Bengal; Africa, Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Java, Malaysia, Nepal, New Guinea, Philippines and Sierra Leone.
Habitat: This species prefers mixed vegetation zones in hilly as well as plain area. Maximum population observed in the month of November.
Remarks: This species can easily be recognized by large dark spots on tegmina.
Subfamily: Mecopodinae
Genus Mecopoda Serville, 1831
6. Mecopoda elongata elongata (Linnaeus, 1758) (Image 6)
Material Examined: Ent.5/1448/ZSI, Pune, 1 male, 1 female, 10.xi.2013, Radhanagari WS, coll. G.A. Raut.
Distribution: India: Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttarakhand and West Bengal; Australia, Aru Islands, Borneo, Celebes, China, Indonesia, Japan, Malacca, Malaysia, Moluccas, New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Sunda Islands, Taiwan, Thailand and Tonkin.
Habitat: This species occurs inside forests associated with dense undergrowth of mixed vegetation.
Remarks: This species was previously recorded from Maharashtra, from Bombay in 1936 (Nadkerny 1965).
Subfamily: Pseudophyllinae
Genus Sathrophyllia Stål, 1874
7. Sathrophyllia rugosa (Linnaeus, 1758) (Image 7)
Material Examined: Ent.5/1449/ZSI, Pune, 1 female, 5.x.2012, Radhanagari WS, coll. S.M. Gaikwad.
Distribution: India: Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu & West Bengal; Java, Sri Lanka and Sumatra.
Habitat: This species is associated with tall grass and trees. Maximum population observed in the month of October.
Remarks: This species was previously recorded from Maharashtra from Andheri in 1908 and Nashik in 1938 (Nadkerny 1965).
Genus Paramorsimus Beier, 1954
8. Paramorsimus oleifolius (Fabricius, 1793) (Image 8)
Material Examined: Ent.5/1450/ZSI, Pune, 1 female, 1 male, 17.iv.2014, Radhanagari WS, coll. Y.J. Koli.
Distribution: India: Maharashtra, Odisha and Tamil Nadu; Sri Lanka.
Remark: This species was previously recorded from Maharashtra, from Bombay (Walker 1871).
Genus Phyllozelus Rdetenbacher, 1892
Subgenus: Phyllozelus Rdetenbacher, 1892
9. Phyllozelus (Phyllozelus) siccus siccus (Walker, 1869) (Image 9)
Material Examined: Ent.5/1451/ZSI, Pune, 1 male, 09.i.2014, Radhanagari WS, coll. S.M. Gaikwad.
Distribution: India: Assam, Sikkim and Tamil Nadu.
Remarks: Phyllozelus (Phyllozelus) siccus siccus was identified by the characters given in Srinivasan and Prabakar (2012). It distinguished from the subspecies Phyllozelus (Phyllozelus) siccus breviusculus by characters of supra-anal plate. The supra-anal plate is triangular and pointed terminally in P.(P.) siccus siccus while in P.(P.) siccus breviusculus supra-anal plate is obtuse. Shishodia (2010) mentioned its distribution in Assam, Sikkim and Tamil Nadu. Chandra & Gupta (2012) have not included P.(P.) siccus siccus in Maharashtra fauna, thus this present report constitutes its first record from the state.
Genus Callimenellus Walker, 1871
10. Callimenellus apterus Beier, 1944 (Image 10)
Material Examined: Ent.5/1452/ZSI, Pune, 2 females, 3 males, 27.iv.2014, Radhanagari WS, coll. Y.J. Koli.
Distribution: India: Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
Habitat: This species is found on short grass, bark of trees and bare ground land.
Subfamily: Hexacentrinae
Genus: Hexacentrus Serville, 1831
11. Hexacentrus unicolor Serville, 1831 (Image 11)
Material Examined: Ent.5/1453/ZSI, Pune, 1 female, 2 males, 17.vii.2013, Radhanagari WS, coll. G.A. Raut.
Distribution: India: Andaman & Nicobar Island, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh; Borneo, Celebes, China, Japan, Java, Moluccas, Myanmar, Philippines, Sumatra, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.
Habitat: This species is associated with tall grass and trees. Maximum population observed in the month of October.
Remarks: New record for Maharashtra.
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