A Contribution to the Fauna of Click-Beetles (Coleoptera: Elateroidea: Elateridae) of West Bengal

About this book

The present work incorporates, for the first time a comprehensive account of click-beetles of West Bengal. The systematic account based mainly on the National Collection present in Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta and the collections made from time to time through different explorations in all the districts of West Bengal by the Zoological Survey of India.

This work deals with the detailed taxonomical studies of click-beetles of West Bengal with biological information of some species have also been given. Prior to study, Elateridae of West Bengal were represented by 104 species under 25 genera and this has been increased to 173 species under 37 genera after the completion of this work. However, representatives of 85 species under 23 genera were not available for study. The present taxonomic study of Elateridae of West Bengal is based on a total number of 415 examples of beetles and embodies 87 species under 28 genera which were actually available for study, among which 10 are new to science. The new species described here are Adelocera prabiri, A. triptii, Agrypnus darjeelingensis, A. shyamrupi, Lanelater kalimpongensis, Cardiophorus moni, Melanotus bengalicus, M. himalayanus, M. kolkatai and Ludigenus kalpanas. Sixteen species (marked ++ in the checklist) under 8 genera have been recorded for the first time from India as also from West Bengal and 40 species (marked + in the check list) under 17 genera from West Bengal. Moreover, the present chapter also focuses on the characteristic features of the respective subfamilies, genera and species and affinities of the allied species. Dichotomus keys to the subfamilies, genera and species dealt with have been provided along with the distributional records of each species from published records, as well as from actual study of the specimen. Relevant comments or remarks on biology, habit and life cycle have been added wherever available. The detailed synonymies which were available from references to the genera and species with restricted distribution have been provided. One new combination for Aeoloderma chrysites has been proposed. The study of genitalia of the species also provided with figures. The illustrations of aedeagus are given to those male specimens which has been studied by the authors. Camera lucida drawings of 64 species including 10 new species and 54 species whose drawings are not available have been provided. Those figures which are present in the recent publications were not provided.

Available information on the distribution of the species with regard to the altitude and the different months of the year have been analysed. It was observed that maximum concentration of 53 species is found in the area from plainland to the lower Hill forest (up to 450 m). The second highest concentration of 42 species is found in the Middle Hill forest zone (450 m – 1500 m) and lastly only 8 species are recorded in the Upper Hill forest zone (1500 m – 3636 m). From the study on abundance of these beetles from the State it was observed that these beetles are predominant during monsoon and are rare during winter. A great variation on abundance was observed among these beetles. From this study it was observed that 8 species of click beetles are very common and 9 species are very rare in distribution in this state

It is hoped that this comprehensive work will enrich our present day knowledge on the taxonomy of this group of insects of West Bengal.

Contents

1. Introduction
2. History
3. Biology
4. Ecology
5. Economic importance
6. Classification
7. Material and methods
8. General structure of adult Elateridae
9. Systematic list of species recorded from West Bengal
10. Taxonomy of Elateridae of West Bengal
11. Distribution and abundance of Elateried beetles
12. Systematic list of species recorded from Bengal but without their exact localities

Summary
Acknowledgements
References

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