Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 January 2023 | 15(1): 22528–22532

 

 

ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) 

https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.7512.15.1.22528-22532

#7512 | Received 09 June 2021 | Final received 02 January 2023 | Finally accepted 14 January 2023

 

 

First record of the long-horned beetle Niphona fuscatrix (Fabricius, 1792) (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Lamiinae) from the Western Ghats, India

 

Yogesh K. Mane 1, Priyanka B. Patil 2  & Sunil M. Gaikwad 3

 

1,2,3 Department of Zoology, Shivaji University, Kolhapur, Maharashtra 416004, India.

1 yogeshmane75p@gmail.com, 2 priyankapatil7933@gmail.com, 3 smg_zoo@unishivaji.ac.in  (corresponding author) 

 

 

 

Editor: Anonymity requested.   Date of publication: 26 January 2023 (online & print)

 

Citation: Mane, Y.K., Patil, P.B. & S.M. Gaikwad (2023). First record of the long-horned beetle Niphona fuscatrix (Fabricius, 1792) (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Lamiinae) from the Western Ghats, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 15(1): 22528–22532. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.7512.15.1.22528-22532

 

Copyright: © Mane et al. 2023. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.  JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and distribution of this article in any medium by providing adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publication.

 

Funding: Shivaji University, Kolhapur.

 

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

 

Acknowledgements: The authors would like to thank the head, Department of Zoology, Shivaji University, Kolhapur for providing laboratory facilities and financial assistance under the Golden Jubilee Research Fellowship. 

 

 

 

Abstract: A long-horned beetle, collected when attracted to light, was identified as Niphona fuscatrix (Fabricius 1792). This species is reported for the first time from western India (Shivaji University, Kolhapur, Maharashtra).

 

Keywords: Kolhapur, male genitalia, Pteropliini.

 

 

 

 

The keys and descriptions of the various species of Indian Cerambycidae (without Lamiinae) is provided by Gahan (1906). Because there are no keys for Indian Lamiinae, there are many difficulties in identifying its members. The subfamily Lamiinae Latreille, 1825 is the most diverse subfamily of long-horned beetles (Švácha & Lawrence 2014) and Mulsant (1839) described the genus Niphona with the species Niphona picticornis. It is a widely distributed genus known from Paleotropical region, Afrotropical region, western Africa, central Africa, eastern Africa, southern Africa, northern Africa, western Palearctic region, northeastern Palearctic region, southeastern Palearctic region, southern Asia, northern Asia, southeastern Asia, Europe, and Australasian region as per the website of ‘Lamiines of the World’. The genus Niphona consists of three subgenera, viz., Hammatoniphona Pic, 1936, Niphona Mulsant, 1839, and Spinoniphona Hua, 1989 of the subfamily Lamiinae (Danilevsky 2020) and the tribe Pteropliini. Breuning (1962) provided keys for the tribe Pteropliini Thomson, 1860 (metasternum short, mid-tibia without dorsal groove, mid-coxal cavities open), with key for 50 species of Niphona in German language. The species was identified as Niphona (Niphona) fuscatrix vide keys by Breuning (1962). Majumder et al. (2015) provided photographs, diagnosis, and distribution of N. fuscatrix which helped in identification of this beetle.

The species N. fuscatrix was first described by Fabricius in 1792 as Lamia fuscator from Nagapattinam, India. It is reported from Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Kashmir, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh (Kariyanna et al. 2017), and Odisha (Majumder et al. 2015). The present communication is based on a male specimen collected from the Shivaji University Campus, Kolhapur, Maharashtra.

 

Materials and Methods

Material examined: SUKZ, Ceramb-191, 21.vi.2018, 1 male, Shivaji University, Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India, 16.678o N, 74.255o E, 595 m, coll. P.B. Patil, presently preserved in the Department of Zoology, Shivaji University, Kolhapur. The specimen was studied under a Nikon stereozoom (SMZ 800) microscope and photographed by using Canon 550D camera with a 100 mm lens at various focal lengths and then stacked in Photoshop CC software for better illustration of diagnostic characters. Measurements were done with digital Vernier caliper. The male genitalia were dissected out from terminal abdominal segments with the help of fine forceps. The genitalia were kept in 10% KOH solution overnight (Majumder et al. 2014). Male genital parts were separated and photographed using Lynx LM-52-3621 stereozoom microscope. Terminology for genitalia follows Ehara (1954). The coordinates of the collection sites were taken from the website, LATITUDE (https://latitude.to/articles-by-country/in/india/21549/shivaji-university), which was further used in preparing maps of the sampling sites in DIVA-GIS software (Figure 1).

 

Results

Body―Medium size (16.9 mm long, 6 mm width at humerus), relatively brown, stout, with dense, golden pubescence dorsally & mixed whitish pubescence ventrally, including on legs (Image 1A,B,C). Head―Small (4.2 mm frontal height, 0.7 mm length), densely pubescent, slightly convex at clypeus and concave medially in frontal region, vertex broad; mandibles strong with black apices; palpi brown; eyes coarsely facetted, divided into upper small & lower large lobe joined with minute, narrow ommatidia-less connection at outer side of antennal socket; antenna 11 segmented, brown, with small yellow patches of pubescence, inner side densely pubescent, first segment swollen and robust, second segment short, as long as broad and smallest (Image 1A,a,c), inner side of each antennomere with long setae. Pronotum―(3.7 mm length, 4.7 mm width excluding anterior spine) coarsely punctured, with irregular ridges, densely pubescent with two lateral hornlike strong spines on each side with anterior spine slightly larger (Image 1F); scutellum tongue shaped, small, dark brown with yellowish margin, pubescent, broader than long (Image 1A,b). Elytra―(12.4 mm long, width 6.0 mm between humeral angles) pubescent, densely & deeply punctate basally, with three broad brown transverse bands  basal dark, middle pale, apical is more paler (Image 1d); large globular tubercles at humeral region; two erect vertical tuft of brown pubescence basally one on either side of suture which look like small tooth when seen laterally (Image 1e), similar but small tufts are at 3/4th length of the elytra; posterior margin noticeably narrowed, curved, subrounded with brown fringed hairs (Image 1d). Thoracic Sternum―Strong prosternal & mesosternal processes on the anterior & posterior edge, processes covered with creamy white, dense pubescence; mesosternum large; legs fairly strong, but short with hind femora not reaching apex of abdomen; fore femur with strong carina on ventral side (Image1B), mid-coxal cavities open to epimera.

Male genitalia (Image 2A): Median lobe―Weakly projected through ringed part, longer than median struts, median foramen not elongated (Image 2B,C,D), median orifice is visible in ventral & lateral view (Image 2A,D), struts are wider & curved medially, in between which internal sac is seen (Image 2F,G,H). Lateral lobes (parameres)―Separated, broad, sub-rounded, densely covered with setae at the apex, ringed part constricted, broad medially and converging (Image 2F,G,H,I); VIIIth tergite―With numerous apical setae, somewhat pentagonal, marginate with pointed apex; apical corners and point with numerous setae (Image 2E).

 

Discussion

The genus Niphona Mulsant, 1839 is mainly distributed in the Palearctic, Ethiopian, Oriental, and Australian regions (Lamiines of the World website).

The characters of N. fuscatrix given by Breuning (1962), Majumder et al. (2015) and the photos on the website ‘Lamiines of the World’ match with our specimen confirming that the species in question is N. fuscatrix. The fauna of Maharashtra is known to include 59 species of cerambycid beetles including 23 species of Lamiinae (Ghate 2012). However, the list does not include N. fuscatrix. The male genitalia of N. fuscatrix are described here for the first time with color photographs.

Among the previously reported sites (from where this species was recorded), Salem and Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu are the closest to the current locality, Kolhapur which is about 692 km and 980 km (aerial distance) away from these places, respectively. The present record extends its known geographical range notably westward and is an addition to the fauna of Maharashtra as well as the Western Ghats.

 

For figure & images - - click here for full PDF

 

 

References

 

Breuning, S. (1962). Bestimmungstabelle der Lamiiden-Triben nebst Revision der Pteropliini der asiatischen Region (Col. Cerambycidae) I Teil. Entomologischen Arbeiten aus dem Museum G. Frey, Tutzing bei München 13(2): 371─493.

Danilevsky, M. (2020). Catalogue of Palearctic Coleoptera: Chrysomeloidea I (Vesperidae, Disteniidae, Cerambycidae): Updated and revised second Edition. Brill, Leiden, Netherlands, 712 pp.

Ehara, S. (1954). Comparative anatomy of male genitalia in some Cerambycid beetles. Journal of the Faculty of Science Hokkaido University Series VI. Zoology 12(1–2): 61–115.

Gahan, C.J. (1906). The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Coleoptera Vol. I (Cerambycidae). Taylor & Francis, London, 329 pp.

Ghate, H.V. (2012). Insecta: Coleoptera: Cerambycidae. Zoological Survey of India, State Fauna Series, Fauna of Maharashtra 20 (part-2): 503─505.

Kariyanna, B., R. Mohan, R. Gupta & F. Vitali (2017).  The Checklist of Longhorn Beetles (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) from India. Monograph.  Zootaxa 4345(1): 001–317. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4345.1.1

Lamiines of the World (2022). https://lamiinae.org/niphona-niphona-fuscatrix.group-45704.html. Accessed 13 April 2022.

Majumder, A., A. Raha, B. Mitra & K. Chandra (2015). New records of Cerambycidae (Insecta: Coleoptera) from Madhya Pradesh, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 7(15): 8242─8249. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.2465.7.15.8242-8249

Mulsant, E. (1839). Histoire Naturelle des Coléoptères de France. Longicornes. Maison, Paris, 304 pp. (original not seen).

Švácha, P. & J. Lawrence (2014). 2.4 Cerambycidae Latereille, 1802, pp. 77─177. In: Leschen, R.A.B. & R.G. Beutel (eds.). Handbook of Zoology, Beetles, Vol. 3: Morphology and Systematic (Phytophaga). Walter de Gruyter, Berlin/Boston, 676 pp.