Journal of Threatened Taxa |
www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 June 2022 | 14(6): 21324–21326
ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893
(Print)
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.7590.14.6.21324-21326
#7590 | Received 24 July 2021 | Final
received 25 August 2021 | Finally accepted 21 June 2022
New distribution records of two
species of metallic ground beetles of the genus Chlaenius
(Coleoptera: Carabidae: Chlaeniini) from the Western Ghats, India
Duraikannu Vasanthakumar
1 & Erich Kirschenhofer
2
1 Zoological Survey of India (ZSI),
Western Regional Centre (WRC), Pune, Maharashtra 411044, India.
2 Otto Elsner Gasse
10-12, 2080 Perchtoldsdorf, Austria.
1 duraivasanthakumar@gmail.com
(corresponding author), 2 kirschenhofer.erich@aon.at
Editor: Anonymity
requested. Date of publication:
26 June 2022 (online & print)
Citation: Vasanthakuma,
D. & E. Kirschenhofer (2022). New distribution records
of two species of metallic ground beetles of the genus Chlaenius
(Coleoptera: Carabidae: Chlaeniini) from the Western Ghats, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 14(6): 21324–21326. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.7590.14.6.21324-21326
Copyright: © Vasanthakumar
& Kirschenhofer 2022. 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: The work
is based on the annual research programme of Zoological Survey of India, WRC, Pune
(Ministry of Environment,
Forest
and Climate Change, Govt. of India).
Competing interests: The authors
declare no competing interests.
Acknowledgements: The first author (DV) wish to
thank the Director, Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata and the
Officer-In-Charge, Western Regional Centre, Pune, for the facilities provided.
Thanks are also due to all the staff of the Western Regional Centre, ZSI, Pune,
for their constant encouragement.
Chlaenius Bonelli,
1810 is one of the largest and taxonomically most diverse genera of Carabidae. There are approximately 855 species and 62
subgenera of Chlaenius in the world (Lorenz
2005) and new species are continually being described (Anichtchenko
2018). The beetles belonging to this genus are popularly known as ‘metallic
ground beetles’ because of their vivid metallic colour of most species (Hegde
& Manthen 2017). They emit some chemical
compounds (m-Cresol, 2,5-dimethylphenol, 3,5-dimethylphenol) as defensive
secretions (Schildknecht et al. 1968a,b; Balestrazzi et al. 1985). The representatives of this genus
are found in all zoogeographical regions of the world (Bousquet 2012).
While analysing the earlier
collections of carabid beetles of the Western Regional Centre of Zoological
Survey of India, we came across two unidentified specimens, which on
examination turned out to be Chlaenius
species—Chlaenius (Chlaeniellus)
cookei Andrewes, 1933 and Chlaenius
(Pseudochlaeniellus) puncticollis
Dejean, 1826.
Perusal of published works on the Chlaenius
species of India (Andrewes 1930, 1933; Saha 1986,
1992, 1995; Saha et al. 1991; Anichtchenko
& Kirschenhofer 2017; Chanu
& Swaminathan 2017; Hegde & Manthen 2017)
revealed that these two species have not been reported from the Western Ghats
region earlier, and hence our findings represent new distribution records. The
specimens were set-pinned, labelled, and assigned registration numbers.
Identification was based on the literature (Andrewes 1933; Jedlička
1964). The photographs were taken with Leica EZ4HD stereo zoom microscope.
Chlaenius (Chlaeniellus)
cookei Andrewes, 1933
Chlaenius deserti Jedlička,
1964.
Material examined: Ent-1/3595,
01.x.2016, 1 male, collected at light, near Gagangiri
mountain, Kolhapur District, Maharashtra (16.5380 N & 73.8238 E), coll.
V.D. Hegde & party.
Diagnostic characters: Head
metallic green, with small scattered punctures; antennomeres 1–3 light brown,
remaining antennomeres dark brown. Pronotum wider than long, rounded at sides,
punctate pubescent, metallic green, with narrow lateral margins brown; basal
margin longer than apical margin; apical angles rounded; basal angles obtuse.
Elytra dark green, with a small, oblique, narrow pale spot on each side,
reaching apex as reported by Andrewes (1933) (Image 1).
Distribution: India (New Delhi,
Rajasthan, and Western Ghats region of Maharashtra (new record)); Pakistan (Azadbaksh & Rafi 2017).
Remarks: This species was
originally described by Andrewes (1933) from New Delhi. Jedlička
(1964) described Chlaenius deserti from Barmer,
Rajasthan which was then synonymised as C. (Chlaeniellus)
cookei by Kirschenhofer
(2003).
Chlaenius (Pseudochlaeniellus)
puncticollis Dejean,
1826
Material examined: Ent-1/3596,
13.vii.2017, 1 male, Near Tamhini, Pune District,
Maharashtra) (18.450 N & 73.416 E), coll. Shripad Manthen.
Diagnostic characters: Head
metallic green, moderately punctate. Pronotum also metallic green, very
coarsely punctate, densely at the base and less densely in anterior half of
pronotum; lateral grooves narrow; basal angles right. Elytra metallic green,
with narrow yellow lateral band, strictly limited to two external intervals; apical
part of band narrow; elytral striae fine, finely
punctured; all intervals flat (Image 2).
Distribution: India
(Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, and Western Ghats region of
Maharashtra (new record)); Afganistan, Pakistan,
Iran, Nepal, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka (Anichtchenko
& Kirschenhofer 2017).
For images –
click here for full PDF
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