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
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