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2, June 2016__________ 613
LONGHORNED BEETLES FROM GOMARDA
WILDLIFE SANCTUARY, CHHATTISGARH, INDIA
(COLEOPTERA: CERAMBYCIDAE)
Amitava Majumder*, Sumana Halder, Angshuman Raha,
Bulganin Mitra and Kailash Chandra
* Zoological Survey of India, Prani Vigyan Bhavan, M- Block, New Alipore, Kolkata-700
053, West Bengal, INDIA. E-mail: amitavamajumder.eco@gmail.com
[Majumder, A., Halder, S., Raha, A., Mitra, B. & Chandra, K. 2016. Longhorned
beetles from Gomarda Wildlife Sanctuary, Chhattisgarh, India (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae).
Munis Entomology & Zoology, 11 (2): 613-618]
ABSTRACT: Faunal survey of Gomarda Wildlife Sanctuary, Chhattisgarh reported eight
species of long horned beetles belonging to three subfamilies, of these six species are
recorded for the first time from the sanctuary and three species are recorded for the first
time from Chhattisgarh. The paper deals with a comprehensive taxonomic account,
photographs of these species along with its geographic distribution.
KEY WORDS: Gomarda Wildlife Sanctuary, Chhattisgarh, Long horned beetle,
Cerambycidae
Longhorned beetles (Coleoptera: Cerambyidae), an important group of insects
are regarded as impending bio indicator for forest regulation (Vance et al., 2003).
These small to large sized beetles are easily recognized by their long antenna.
Adults are xylophagus, feed on the plant sap, pollen, nectar, and foliage. Despite
of its importance as a major forest pest they are poorly studied. This family stands
for one of the largest families of Coleoptera with 5232 genera, 30079 species
globally (Zang, 2011). The first attempt with major taxonomic and biological
studies on this group was taken in 20th century. Gahan (1906) explored these long
horned beetles from the Indian regions which were documented in “Fauna of
British India”. The fauna was lacked the information on the subfamily Lamiinae.
The inventory on this family from the state Chhattisgarh was done by Majumder
et al. (2014) and reported two species from Gomarda Wildlife Sanctuary. The
present communication reports 6 species new to Gomarda WLS, of which three
species, namely Chlorophorus annularis (Fabricius, 1787), Stromatium
barbatum (Fabricius, 1775), Diorthus cinereus (Fabricius, 1793) are new record to
Chhattisgarh state.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Field trips are frequently undertaken for the collection of different species
from various habitats. Collections are made during daytime using forceps, from
logs, decayed matters, ground, sometimes by beating bushes with a stick and
collecting the dropping one on a piece of cloth. Beetles are also collected at night
by installing light traps at different locations. Specimens are collected in different
sized jars, vials which are filled with benzene for desensitizing the beetles.
Specimens are preserved in dry form in paper packets. The specimens collected
are brought to the laboratory at The Headquarters, Zoological Survey of India,
Kolkata, for further processing of fixation and preservation.
Study area: Faunal exploration was undertaken in the different parts of the
Sanctuary. Biogeographically the state Chhattisgarh is placed in Deccan Plateau
614 _____________Mun. Ent. Zool. Vol. 11, No. 2, June 2016__________
zone with three provinces namely 6D Chota Nagpur plateau, 6C Eastern
Highlands and 6E Central high land (Rodgers et al., 2002). The Sanctuary comes
under the district Raigarh, in this State. It lies between 21°3024 N to 830647
E and with an elevation of 400 m. The Sanctuary derives its name from the
village Gomarda in Sarangarh tehsil of Raigarh district. It is situated about 15 km
south of Sarangarh on Raigarh-Sarangarh-Saraipali state highway.
Abbreviation used: GWLS: Gomarda Wildlife Sanctuary, RH: Rest House,
Alt: Altitude, Coll: Collector.
RESULTS
Subfamily Prioninae
Tribe Acanthophorini
Acanthophorus serraticornis (Olivier, 1795)
1795. Prionus serraticornis Olivier, Ent., Coléoptères. Imprimerie de Lanneau, Paris, 4 (66): 14.
1906. Acanthophorus serraticornis: Gahan, Fauna British India, including Ceylon and Burma
(Cerambycidae), I: 23.
Material examined: Raigarh, GWLS, 910RF Watch Tower (Saranger beat) 21°28’56.9”,
83°03’17.4” Alt-437 m; 27.vi.2015, coll. Amitava & party.
Diagnostic character: Body very large, measuring about 72mm, robust, glossy, dark
brown to black; antenna smaller than body or almost equal, twelve segmented, segment I
globular, small, segment III longest, lateral margins of segment III- XI apically gradually
angulate towards segment XI; head globular, punctate, eyes large almost covering the gena,
frons and clypeus covered with golden hairs, basal margin of vertex with dense golden hairs;
pronotum large, much broader than long, glossy dark brown, strongly punctate, baso-lateral
area covered with dense pubescence, two raised portion on either side of pronotum, lateral
margin with thin spines on either side of pronotum, apico-lateral spine small, comparatively
blunt, baso lateral spine much acute and larger than apico-lateral spine, the median spine
largest and more acute and more close to apico-lateral spine; elytra, broad, elongated, dark
brown, darker towards basal margin, lateral margins with fine yellowish pubescence, apex of
the elytra broadly sub rounded; coxal cavities closed, femur robust, flattened, tibia
elongated, with sharp spines on the anterior margin; tarsal claw more than 90° angle.
Distribution: India: Chhattisgarh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Bihar, Karnataka,
Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Sikkim and Tamil Nadu. Elsewhere: Sri
Lanka.
Subfamily Cerambycinae
Tribe Clytini
Chlorophorus annularis (Fabricius, 1787)
1787. Callidium annulare Fabricius, Hafniae, Proft, 1: 156.
1863. Chlorophorus annularis Chevrolat, Mémoires de la Société Royale des Sciences de Liège, 18 (4):
290.
1900. Chlorophorus annularis: Gahan, The Annals and Magazine of Natural History, 5 (7) 28: 348.
1906. Caloclytus annularis: Gahan, The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma
(Cerambycidae), I: 261.
2008. Chlorophorus annularis: Makihara, Mannakkara, Fujimura & Ohtake, Bulletin of the Forestry and
Forest Products Research Institute, Ibaraki, 7 (2) 407: 106.
2013. Chlorophorus annularis: Weigel, Meng & Lin, Formosa Ecological Company, Taiwan: 76.
Material examined: Raigarh, GWLS, 910RF Watch Tower (Saranger beat) 21°28’56.9”,
83°03’17.4” Alt-437 m; 27.vi.2015, coll. Amitava & party.
Diagnosis: Body medium, measuring about 12mm, ornamented with black and yellowish
patches of pubescence; head small, horizontal, covered with yellowish pubescence, more
towards gena and frons; mandibles small, prominent; vertex small, pubescent, narrow,
deeply incised in between the antennal tubercles; eyes large almost covered the gena,
semicircular, anterior lobe much large than posterior lobe; antenna smaller than body, 11-
segmented, dark brown with off white pubescence, more towards apical segments, segment
I large, almost equal to IV, but smaller than III; pronotum large globular finely punctate,
densely covered with yellowish pubescence, ornamented with some black patches: one on
_____________Mun. Ent. Zool. Vol. 11, No. 2, June 2016__________ 615
either side of baso-lateral margins, the second one sub oval, on either side of the apico-
lateral region, the third or central one broad, along the median line, somewhat swollen on
the basal region of the pronotum; scutellum, large densely whitish yellowish pubescence;
elytra elongated, covered with densely golden-yellow pubescence throughout, ornamented
with black patches of pubescence: first black patch in between mid and hind legs, elongated,
semi-oval, second started from one third of basal margin, along the sutural margin, more
broadened at the middle, ended in lateral margin beyond the hind leg, the third one very
near to apex, broad, semicircular, more close to lateral margin than sutural margin, apex
sub truncated with lateral and sutural spines; ventral side densely covered with pale whitish
pubescence, prosternum narrow lower than the coxal cavity; mesosternum broad almost at
the height of the coxa, mesocoxal cavity closed, legs elongated, hind femur and tibia much
elongated, femur with two spines, first tarsal segment of the hind femur much longer, third
tarsal segment bilobed; tarsal claw more than 90° angle.
Distribution: India: Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam. Elsewhere:
China, Japan.
Tribe Hesperophanini
Stromatium barbatum (Fabricius, 1775)
1775. Callidium barbatum Fabricius, Systema Entomologiae, 30: 189.
1798. Callidium variolosum Fabricius, Supplementum entomologiae systematicae Proft & Storch,
Hafniae: 149.
1835. Callidium funestum Boisduval, In Voyage de Découvertes. sous le commandement de M. J.
Dumont d'Urville, 2: 481.
1840. Stromatium barbatum Laporte and Castelnau, Histoire Naturelle des Insectes Coléoptères P.
Duménil, Paris, 2: 452.
1906. Stromatium barbatum: Gahan, The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma
(Cerambycidae), I: 114.
2004. Stromatium barbatum: Mukhopadhyay & Halder, State Fauna Series, Zoological Survey of India,
10: 426.
2014. Stromatium barbatum: Švácha & Lawrence, In Walter de Gruyter, Handbook of Zoology, 3: 90.
Material examined: Raigarh, GWLS, 910RF Watch Tower (Saranger beat) 21°28’56.9”,
83°03’17.4” Alt-437 m; 27.vi.2015, Coll. Amitava & party.
Diagnosis: Body medium, measuring about 14-24mm, brown to deep brown in color,
densely punctate throughout, covered with fine hairs; head, pronotum, elytra, leg and scape
dark brown, other antennal segments brown; head small, dark brown, sparsely hairy,
clypeus transverse, frons dark brown depressed, eyes large almost subdivided, anterior
portion large, vertex large, suddenly depressed and broad in between the posterior lobe of
the eyes, little raised and narrowly incised in between the antennal tubercles; antenna 11-
segmented, longer than body, slender with long hairs on the inner margin, segment I dark
brown small, densely punctate, segment II to XI brown or light brown in color, segment III
much longer than segment I, little longer than segment IV; pronotum sub-squarish, dark
brown, surface strongly punctate with five blunt tubercles, in male lateral sides with large
concavity covered with dense hairs, absent in female; elytra sub-squarish, densely granule,
dark brown with erect hairs, two prominent longitudinal ridges started from the sides of
scutellum ended near to the apex, the third longitudinal ridges started from the hind leg and
ended near to the apex, apex sub rounded, sutural angle with small spine; ventral side dark
brown, densely hairy; prosternum broad at the height of coxa, mesosternum much broad,
almost at the height of coxa, coxal cavities closed; legs dark brown third tarsal segment
bilobed; tarsal claw more than 90° angle.
Distribution: India: Chhattisgarh, Andaman, Meghalaya, Manipur, Maharashtra, Tripura,
West Bengal. Elsewhere: Sri Lanka, Africa, Myanmar.
Tribe Cerambycini
Neoplocaederus pedestris (White, 1853)
1853. Hammaticherus pedistris White, Catalogue of the coleopterous insects in the collection of the
British Museum., Longicornia, I: 127.
1906. Plocaederus humeralis: Gahan, Fauna Brit. India including Ceylon & Burma, Col: Cerambycidae:
123.
1906. Plocaederus pedestris: Gahan, Fauna Brit. India including Ceylon & Burma, Col: Cerambycidae:
123.
616 _____________Mun. Ent. Zool. Vol. 11, No. 2, June 2016__________
1991. Neoplocaederus pedestris Sama, Bollettino della Società Entomologica Italiana, 123 (2): 121-128.
Material examined: Raigarh, GWLS, 910RF Watch Tower (Saranger beat) 21°28’56.9”,
83°03’17.4” Alt-437 m; 27.vi.2015, coll. Amitava & party.
Diagnosis: Body large, measuring about 24-32mm, elongate, deep black throughout,
female more paler, almost brown; head protuberant, horizontal, eyes very large, finely
faceted, black in color, weakly subdivided, both the eyes separated by a narrow carina,
antenna 11-segmented, ferruginous, segment I small, thick, as long as segment III, segment
V to X dorso- apically raised; pronotum broader than long, surface rough with ridges and
punctures, sparsely pubescent, these gradually dense towards lateral margins, small distinct
tubercle on either side of the mid lateral margins of the pronotum; elytra elongated, parallel
sided black with dense grayish pubescence, female sometimes deep ferruginous, humeral
angel raised, few indistinct longitudinal ridges on the elytra, basal margin widened,
compressed at the middle, gradually widened towards apex, apex narrowly truncated,
sutural spine acute, lateral spine blunt; legs ferruginous, pubescence, femur thick,
elongated, tibia slender, elongated, tarsal claws less than 90° angle.
Distribution: India: Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra.
Elsewhere: Myanmar.
Diorthus cinereus (Fabricius, 1793)
1793. Cerambyx cinereus Fabricius, Hafniae, C. G. Proft, 1 (2): 265.
1795. Cerambyx holosericeus Olivier, Coléoptères. Imprimerie de Lanneau, Paris, 4: 14.
1853. Hammaticherus simplex White, Longicornia I. Catalogue of the coleopterous insects in the
collection of the British Museum, London, 7: 130.
1906. Diorthus simplex Gahan, The Fauna of British India (Cerambycidae), I: 133.
1912. Diorthrus cinereus Aurivillius, Coleopterorum Catalogus, pars 39 (22): 56.
2008. Diorthrus cinereus: Makihara, Mannakkara, Fujimura & Ohtake, Bulletin of the Forestry and
Forest Products Research Institute, Ibaraki, 7 (2) 407: 100.
Material examined: Raigarh, GWLS, Tamtora FRH, 21°26’39.6”, 83°04’58.6” Alt. 372 m,
31.v.2014, coll. S. Gupta & Party.
Diagnosis: Body large, measuring about 32 mm, brown to black in color, covered with
velvety greyish pubescence; head small almost covered by the eyes, frons small, mandibles
strong, clypeus large black, eyes black, vertex large, black, narrow in between the posterior
lobe of eyes and antennal tubercles, feebly sulcated; antenna 11 segmented hardly
surpassing the body in female, longer in male, stout, densely pubescence, segment I and III
almost equal but longer than segment IV, segment I with apical cicatrix, III to V apically
broadened, segment V to X apically outwardly angulate; pronotum globular shaped, longer
than broad irregularly strongly wrinkled formed crown shaped impression, densely
pubescent; elytra brown to black covered with velvety greyish pubescence, apex sub-straight
with acute sutural spine; ventral side densely pubescent, prosternum broad, raised at the
height of coxa, mesosternum much broader at the height of coxa, coxal cavities closed, legs
elongated covered with greyish pubescence, femora stumpy, tarsal claw more than 90 angle.
Distribution: India: Chhattisgarh, Chennai, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal.
Elsewhere: Sri Lanka, West Africa, Myanmar, Mauritius.
Subfamily Lamiinae
Tribe Batocerini
Batocera rufomaculata (Degeer, 1775)
1775. Cerambyx rufomaculatus Degeer, Imprimerie Pierre Hesselberg, 5: 127.
1950. Batocera rufomaculata m. flavescens Breuning, Longicornia, I: 519.
2007. Batocera rufomaculata rufomaculata: Dalens & Touroult, Lambillionea, 107 (2) 2: 292.
2012. Batocera rufomaculata: Weigel, Verein der Freunde und Förderer des Naturkunde museums
Erfurt e. V: 408.
2006. Batocera rufomaculata: Özdikmen, Munis Entomology & Zoology, 1 (1): 81.
Material examined: Raigarh, GWLS, 910RF Watch Tower (Saranger beat) 21°28’56.9”,
83°03’17.4” Alt-437 m; 27.vi.2015, coll. Amitava & party.
Diagnosis: Body large, measuring about 50 mm, robust, covered with finely greyish
pubescence; head vertical, clypeus trapezoid glossy, mandible large, frons broad, black with
sparsely greyish pubescence, eyes large almost covered the gena, subdivided, anterior
portion much larger than posterior one, vertex large with sparsely yellowish pubescence,
broaden in between the antennal tubercles, depressed; antenna 11 segmented longer than
_____________Mun. Ent. Zool. Vol. 11, No. 2, June 2016__________ 617
body on male and almost equal in female, dark brown in colour, segment I large robust, with
apical cicatrix, surface wrinkled, strongly in male, segment III much longer than IV and I,
strongly, densely punctate, inner margin of all the antennal segments with small spines
except segment I; pronotum large, sub squarish, surface roughened with some ridges, two
irony red kidney shaped patches at the centre on either side of the median line of the
pronotum, lateral margin out curved, ended with long strong spine, basal margin with some
wavy ridges, scutellum large tongue shaped with bright whitish yellow pubescence, elytra
elongated covered with fine densely greyish pubescence, ornamented with yellowish orange
spots and patches, humeral angle with acute spine, basal margin strongly warty gradually
converging towards apex, elytral apex sub straight, sutural margin with acute spine, ventral
side covered with densely finely greyish pubescence, one broad pale whitish band running
along the ventro-lateral margin from last abdominal segment to base of the eye, prosternum
broad anteriorly, depressed, mesosternum broad little depressed, coxal cavities open; legs
elongated, fore femur and tibia strongly warty in male, fore tibia apically flattened and little
bend in both sexes, tarsal claw more than 90° angle.
Distribution: India: Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, West Bengal. Elsewhere:Sri
Lanka, Africa, Myanmar.
Species list from Gomarda Wildlife Sanctuary
No Species Remarks
1. Acanthophorus serraticornis (Olivier, 1795) New record to GWLS
2. Chlorophorus annularis (Fabricius, 1787) New record to Chhattisgarh
3. Stromatium barbatum (Fabricius, 1775) New record to Chhattisgarh
4. Neoplocaederus pedestris (White, 1853) New record to GWLS
5. Diorthus cinereus (Fabricius, 1793) New record to Chhattisgarh
6. Batocera rufomaculata (Degeer, 1775) New record to GWLS
7. Nyphasia apicalis Gahan, 1893 Reported Majumder et al., 2014
8. Apomecyna saltator (Fabricius, 1781) Reported Majumder et al., 2014
DISCUSSION
Protected areas are critical for the conservation of residual tropical forest
biodiversity, yet many of these are being deforested by humans both within and
outside of their administrative boundaries. It has been observed that, sanctuaries,
parks and reserves consistently recorded higher number of endemic species, in
addition to larger population densities, than in their surrounding human-
modified areas across the protected areas. Therefore, it is essential to document
the faunal diversity of the protected areas which are still undisturbed with human
interference. In view to above, an attempt has been made to document the
cerambycid faunal diversity of Gomarda WLS which is also a notorious pest of the
forest ecosystem.
Present study reports eight species of long horned beetles from Gomarda
WLS, of which 2 species have been reported by Majumder et al. (2014) from
Gomarda WLS. The remaining six species are new record to Gomarda WLS and
three species of them, namely, Chlorophorus annularis (Fabricius, 1787),
Stromatium barbatum (Fabricius, 1775) and Diorthus cinereus (Fabricius, 1793)
are reported for the first time from the state of Chhattisgarh. Present
communication will significantly help as a base line data for the future worker of
Cerambycidae of Chhattisgarh.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Authors are grateful to Director, Zoological Survey of India, for providing
necessary facilities and encouragements. We are also thankful to Chhattisgarh
CAMPA (Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning
618 _____________Mun. Ent. Zool. Vol. 11, No. 2, June 2016__________
Authority) for providing funds to carry out the work. Thanks are also due to
Chhattisgarh Forest Department for providing necessary permissions and support
to carry out the present work.
LITERATURE CITED
Gahan, C. J. 1906. The Fauna of British India including Ceylon and Burma. Coleoptera: Cerambycidae. Taylor and
Francis, London, 329 pp.
Lawrence, J. F. 1982. Coleoptera, pp. 482–553. In: Parker, S. (ed.). Synopsis and Classification of Living Organisms.
McGraw Hill, New York.
Majumder, A., Raha, A., Mitra, B., Ghate, H. V. & Chandra, K. 2014. Longhorned beetles (Coleoptera:
Cerambycidae) from Chhattisgarh, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 6 (1): 5393-5399.
Özdikmen, H. 2006. Contribution to the knowledge of Turkish longicorn beetles fauna (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae).
Munis Entomology & Zoology, 1 (1): 71-90.
Rodgers, W. A., Panwar, H. S. & Mathur, V. B. 2002. Wildlife Protected Area Network in India: A review (Executive
Summary). Wildlife Institute of India, Dehra Dun, India.
Vance, C. C., Kirby, K. R., Malcolm, J. R. & Smith, S. M. 2003. Community Composition of Longhorned Beetles
(Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) in the Canopy and Understorey of Sugar Maple and White Pine Stands in South-Central
Ontario. Environ. Entomol., 32 (5): 1066-1074.
Zhang, Z. 2011. Animal biodiversity: An outline of higher-level classification and survey of taxonomic richness. Zootaxa,
3148: 1-237.
1 2 3
4 5 6
Figure 1. Cerambycid beetles collected during the present study. 1. Acanthophorus
serraticornis (Olivier, 1795), 2. Chlorophorus annularis (Fabricius, 1787), 3. Stromatium
barbatum (Fabricius, 1775), 4. Neoplocaederus pedestris (White, 1853), 5. Diorthus
cinereus (Fabricius, 1793), 6. Batocera rufomaculata (Degeer, 1775).
