Type Specimen of Insect Acanthacorydalis Horrenda Navas (Megaloptera) in the Collection of Bombay Natural History Society

2007·1.2 MB·

by  Naresh Chaturvedi

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
TYPE SPECIMEN OF INSECT ACANTHACORYDALIS HORRENDA NAVAS
24.
(MEGALOPTERA) IN THE COLLECTION OF BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY1
NareshChaturvedi2
'Accepted December 19, 2005
-Bombay Natural History Society, Hornbill House, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Marg, Mumbai 400 001, Maharashtra, India.
OrderNeuropteraisclassifiedbyImms(1977)intotwo
suborders, i.e. Megaloptera and Plannipennia. Suborder
Megaloptera is a small group ofrare and primitive insects
commonlyknownasAlderfliesandSnakefliesandverylittle
information is available on them (Varshney 2002). Ghosh
(1998) mentioned that 125 genera and 335 species of
Neuroptera are found in India, out of which 8 genera and
25 species belong to the suborder Megaloptera, which is
representedbytwofamilies,i.e.CorydalidaeandInocellidae.
According to Liu et al. (2005), eight species of
Acanthacorydalis are found inAsiaofwhich seven species
arerestrictedonlytothe Oriental region andone alsoexists
inPalaearcticRegion. Theyhavealsoidentifiedsixareasof
endemism of this genus of which one is north-east India. Fig. 1:AcanthacorydalishorrendaNavas
Ghosh(2000)hasextensivelyworkedonthisgroupofinsects
found in India and has described three species ofthe genus present).Malemandibledarkblack,twotimesaslongashead,
Acanthacorydalis from northeast India: Acanthacorydalis witlithreeminuteteeth.Pronotumandmesonotumlightbrown
asiatica Wood Mason (described by Wood Mason as in middle and black on either side, metanotum brown and
Corydalis asiatica), A. orientalis McLachlan and little black on sides. Wings smoky and not dark at anterior
A. horrendaNavas. Whileworkingoutan identificationkey margin.Forewingswithbrownspots. Legsblack. Maletenth
forthese species, Ghosh has remarkedthat, “due to paucity tergite short, stout, and curved ventral. The description of
ofthe material for examination and non-availability ofthe femaleisnotavailable.
literature author reserves comments on the species Measurement: Wing Span - Fore wing: 76.50 mm;
A. horrenda Navas. Varshney (2005) studied the collection Hind Wing: 68.55 mm; Body length: 55.48 mm; Prothorax:
of suborder Megaloptera present in Zoological Survey of 15.00 mm; Mesothorax: 5.0 mm. Metathorax: 6.0 mm;
India (ZSI) and has not mentioned the presence of Abdomen: 16.35mm.
Acanthacorydalis horrenda species in the ZSI collection. Themalegenitaliaarealsovisibleinthespecimen.
TheentomologicalcollectionoftheBombayNaturalHistory Thebodymarkingsandwingvenationareillustratedin
Society has a specimen of Acanthacorydalis horrenda the attached photograph.
Navaslabelledas ‘typespecimen’ (Fig. 1). Remarks: Many attempts to obtain the original
Locality: NagaHills,c. 1,311 m(4300ft). description of the species published by Navas are
DateofCollection:April, 1930.Sex:Male. unsuccessful. It is observed that A. horrenda (Navas) is
Collectedby:Capt.J.E.Mibreg. distinctfrom othertwo Indian species in different markings
DeterminedbyP.J.Navas(1931). ontheheadandthorax,longmandiblesinmale.Anterioredge
DiganosticCharacters: Headsquare-shapedwiththree ofwingsnotdark.Thestatusofthisspecieswouldbeclarified
prominent ocelli. The black and brownish markings present on receipt of its original description and this paper will be
on head and thorax are symmetrical. Antenna broken (not useful in thisregard.
REFERENCES
Ghosh, S.K. (1998): Faunal Diversity in India: Neuroptera. Ghosh, S.K. (2000): Neuroptera fauna of northeast India Rec. zool.
Pp. 251-257,EditedbyAlfred etal. ENVIS Centre,Zoological Surv. India, Occ. PaperNo. 184: 179.
Survey ofIndia, Calcutta. 495 pp. Imms, A.D. (1977): A General Textbook of Entomology. Revised by
1 Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (2), May-Aug 2007 231
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
O.W.Richards&R.G.Davies,Vol.II.Pp.421-1354.Published (alderflies) and Raphidiodae (snake flies) in India. Bionotes
by Chapman and Hall, London. 7(1): 30-32.
Navas, L. (1931): Acanthcicorydalis horrenda. Rev. Acad. Cienc. Liu, Xing Yue, Ding Yang, Si Qin, Ge & Xing Ke, Yang (2005):
Madrid. 26: 73. PhylogeneticreviewoftheChinesespeciesofAcanthacorydalis
Varshney, R.K. (2002): Insectia. Bionotes4(1): 20-22. (Megaloptera, Corydalidae). Zoologica Scripta Vol. 34(4):
Varshney,R.K.(2005):OntworareinsectOrders(Auct)Megaloptera 373.
25. ADDITIONS TO THE COCCINELLID FAUNA OF THE ANDAMAN ISLANDS
AND THE BIOLOGY OF THE ENDEMIC CH1LOCORUS COELOSIMILIS KAPUR 1966
(COLEOPTERA: COCCINELLIDAE)1
K. Veenakumari2-3 and Prashanth Mohanraj2-4
'Accepted June 23, 2004
"Central Agricultural Research Institute, P.B. No. 181, Port Blair. 744 101, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India.
’Present Address: Project Directorate of Biological Control, P.B No. 2491, H.A. Farm, Hebbal, Bengaluru 560 024,
Karnataka, India. Email: [email protected]
’Email: [email protected]
In spite of their economic importance both as entomological procedures. The immature stages were also
phytophages and as efficient predators of crop pests, the collected whenever noticed, brought to the laboratory and
CoccinellidaeoftheAndaman Islandsremain poorly known reared.
tothisday.ThefirstCoccinellid,Epilachnanevillifromthese All the specimens collected/reared were sent to the
Islands was described as an endemic species by Dohrn in NaturalHistoryMuseum,London,toascertaintheiridentities.
1880-22yearsafterthe BritishoccupiedtheseIslands,with
the purpose of establishing a penal colony. In the next AdditionstothenativeCoccinellidfauna
51 years,onlytwomorespecieswereadded,ofwhichRodolia Twenty seven species ofCoccinellids were collected
andamanicaWisewasalsoendemic. Nomoreadditionswere during the course of this study. Twelve of these are being
madetillKapur(1966)basedlargelyonspecimenscollected recordedforthe firsttimefromtheseIslands(Table 1). Only
sporadically between 1959 and 1964 by members of the four Coccinellids have been identified to the species level,
Zoological Survey ofIndia, recorded 26 more species, with
Table 1: Coccinellidae (Coleoptera: Cucujoidea) recorded for the
fourendemicsfromthese Islands in 1966.With thisthetotal firsttime from theAndaman islands, India
number of species known from these islands rose to 29, of
which6areendemics(Kapur 1966).Noadditionshavesince Family Coccinellidae
been madetothe CoccinellidfaunaoftheAndaman Islands. Subfamily Sticholotidinae
It was in this context that the current study was undertaken, *Jauravia pallidula Motschulsky
to enable the further documentation of the Coccinellid *Serangium sp.
diversity ofthese islands. Subfamily Scymninae
The Andaman archipelago is a chain of a little over Scymnus fuscatus Boheman
320islands, situatedintheBayofBengalbetweenthe 10°N *SPcsyemunduosscsyp.mnus spp. 1 & 2
and 14° N. Oceanic in origin (Prashanth Mohanraj and *Cryptogonus sp.nr. bilineatus Kapur
Veenakumari 1996), these Islands were inhabited solely by Stethorus sp.
hunter-gatherertribesforcenturies,tilltheBritishestablished Subfamily Coccidulinae
themselvesherein 1858followinganearlierabortiveattempt Rodolia fulvescens Hoang
to do so in the last decade ofthe eighteenth century. It was
Subfamily Chilocorinae
only after the arrival of the British in the mid-nineteenth Chilocorus sp.nr. nigrita (Fabricius)
century, that these Islands began to be scrutinized for their *Platynaspis sp.
natural historical productions.
Subfamily Coccinellinae
No special techniques were employed tocollect these *Bothrocalvia pupillata (Swartz)
beetles. Adults were collected from the foliage from both Harmonia sp.
forests and crop fields and processed using routine *Taxa being recorded forthe firsttime from theAndaman islands
232 J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (2), May-Aug 2007