PLATINUM The Journal of Threatened Taxa (JoTT) is dedicated to building evidence for conservaton globally by publishing peer-reviewed artcles online OPEN ACCESS every month at a reasonably rapid rate at www.threatenedtaxa.org. All artcles published in JoTT are registered under Creatve Commons Atributon 4.0 Internatonal License unless otherwise mentoned. JoTT allows allows unrestricted use, reproducton, and distributon of artcles in any medium by providing adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publicaton. Journal of Threatened Taxa Building evidence for conservaton globally www.threatenedtaxa.org ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) Communication A note on the taxonomy and natural history of the Summer Clicker Lahugada dohertyi (Distant, 1891) (Insecta: Hemiptera: Cicadidae) along with its distribution in northern West Bengal, India Vivek Sarkar 26 July 2019 | Vol. 11 | No. 9 | Pages: 14128–14136 DOI: 10.11609/jot.3193.11.9.14128-14136 For Focus, Scope, Aims, Policies, and Guidelines visit htps://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/editorialPolicies#custom-0 For Artcle Submission Guidelines, visit htps://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/submissions#onlineSubmissions For Policies against Scientfc Misconduct, visit htps://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/editorialPolicies#custom-2 For reprints, contact <[email protected]> The opinions expressed by the authors do not refect the views of the Journal of Threatened Taxa, Wildlife Informaton Liaison Development Society, Zoo Outreach Organizaton, or any of the partners. The journal, the publisher, the host, and the part- Publisher & Host ners are not responsible for the accuracy of the politcal boundaries shown in the maps by the authors. Partner Member Threatened Taxa Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 July 2019 | 11(9): 14128–14136 A note on the taxonomy and natural history of Communication the Summer Clicker Lahugada dohertyi (Distant, 1891) ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) (Insecta: Hemiptera: Cicadidae) along with its distribution ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) in northern West Bengal, India PLATINUM OPEN ACCESS Vivek Sarkar North Orissa University, Department of Zoology, Sri Ram Chandra Vihar, Takatpur, Mayurbhanj, Baripada, Odisha 757003, India. UNESCO Category-2 Centre, Wildlife Insttute of India, Chandrabani, Dehradun, Utarakhand 248001, India. [email protected] Abstract: Lahugada dohertyi is one of the many lesser-known cicadas of northeastern India which has never been studied since its discovery. Recently, a century later, a populaton of this elusive cicada was discovered in northern West Bengal. This paper gives an account on its distributon in northern West Bengal, taxonomy, and natural history and suggests a common name based on its call and habitat preferences. Keywords: Cicada, common name, Ochre Summer Clicker. DOI: htps://doi.org/10.11609/jot.3193.11.9.14128-14136 | ZooBank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:8693BF12-07AA-4789-AECD-16D4A0229881 Editor: K.A. Subramanian, Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), Chennai, India. Date of publicaton: 26 July 2019 (online & print) Manuscript details: #3193 | Received 12 August 2018 | Final received 02 July 2019 | Finally accepted 09 July 2019 Citaton: Sarkar, V. (2019). A note on the taxonomy and natural history of the Summer Clicker Lahugada dohertyi (Distant, 1891) (Insecta: Hemiptera: Cicadidae) along with its distributon in northern West Bengal, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 11(9): 14128–14136. htps://doi.org/10.11609/jot.3193.11.9.14128-14136 Copyright: © Sarkar 2019. Creatve Commons Atributon 4.0 Internatonal License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproducton, and distributon of this artcle in any medium by adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publicaton. Funding: This work was partally funded by the Ruford Small Grant to the author, and the Natonal Academy of Sciences and USAID’s Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research (PEER) Science Grant (#PGA-2000003433), a Ramanujan Fellowship (Department of Science and Technology, Government of India), and an NCBS research grant to Dr Krushnamegh Kunte. Competng interests: The author declares no competng interests. Author details: Vivek Sarkar is pursuing his PhD from North Orissa University on the cicadas of Garo, Khasi and Jainta hills of Meghalaya State of India parallel to his job as World Heritage Assistant in UNESCO C2C at Wildlife Insttute of India. Acknowledgements: Thanks are due to Mr Bishwajit Duta Chowdhury and Mr Ayan Chakraborty for logistcal support and assistance with the feldwork and to Dr Anukul Nath for preparing the map. I am grateful to Dr Krushnamegh Kunte for the support with the feldwork in 2014 and the permission to use the specimen images, to Mr Dipendra Nath Basu for taking the specimen images and genitalia images, to Mr Priyam Chakraborty for collectng a male specimen from Pundibari, and to Mr Manoj V. Nair and Dr Pratap Singh for the help in discussion and modifying the draf in various ways. The type specimen depicted in Fig. 1 is deposited in the Natural History Museum, London, images of which were provided by Dr Kunte, who thanks the Hemiptera curators at the BMNH. The newly collected specimens described in this paper are deposited in the Research Collectons of the NCBS Museum and Field Statons Facility. Special thanks to my family for all the support with the feldwork in 2015–2016. 14128 Taxonomy and natural history of Lahugada dohertyi Sarkar INTRODUCTION confrmed to be of Lahugada dohertyi, were collected for this study. Lahugada dohertyi is a rusty red-coloured cicada Imaging: Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ-35 and Canon that was described by William Lucas Distant in 1891 EOS-600D Rebel T3i DSLR with Sigma 70–300 mm APO- from a single male specimen (Image 1) collected by Digimacro lens were used to photograph the cicadas in the American entomologist William Doherty from the feld. Canon EOS-1200D DSLR with Canon 50mm Margherita of Upper Assam (Fig. 1; Distant 1891, 1905). macro lens was used to photograph the specimen in the It was initally described as Pomponia dohertyi Distant, collecton depository of Natonal Centre of Biological 1891 (Distant 1891; Sanborn 2014; Price et al. 2016) Sciences (NCBS). Labomed Luxeo 2SA microscope was and later transferred to the monotypic genus Lahugada used to take images and examine specimens for morpho- Distant, 1905. Unlike the members of Pomponia Stål, taxonomic work. Canon EOS-600D Rebel T3i DSLR with 1866, the opercula in the male of the species are short, Canon 100mm macro lens and external fashes were somewhat globose, wider than abdominal margins, used to photograph the larval exuviae. and distnctly visible from above (Distant 1906). For Dissecton: The last two abdominal segments of the more than a century, nothing was known about its male specimen (NCBS-PZ562) were treated using 10% range, distributon, habitat preferences, or actvity KOH to dissect the genitalia, which was then preserved period. Recently, in 2014, I found the species in and in 0.5ml vials containing anhydrous glycerol. around Coochbehar Town, situated in northern West Morpho-taxonomy: The terminology used for the Bengal State of India, which gave me an opportunity to descripton of the adult cicada and the larval exuviae observe and study this cicada closely. This newly found was adopted from Moulds (2005) and Hou et al. (2014), point locaton report was mentoned in the recently respectvely. published annotated provisional catalogue of cicadas of Measurement: Morphometric measurements of the the Oriental region (Price et al. 2016). The catalogue, adult cicadas were taken from images using ImageJ (64- however, does not give any account on its distributon, bit Java 1.6.0) sofware. The measurement of the larval biology, or natural history. This paper gives a brief exuviae is not produced in this paper as the exuviae tend descripton of the taxonomy, larval morphology, and to shrink while drying, right afer the eclosion, distortng natural history of this lesser-known cicada along with a the actual measurement of the living last instar larvae. note on the distributon of this species in other parts of Locaton: The species was frst found opportunistcally northern West Bengal. in Chakchaka, a suburb of Coochbehar, in May 2014. A few days later it was found in Rasamat Reserve Forest. An atempt was made to conduct more focused actve MATERIAL AND METHODS searches for three weeks (22 April–13 May 2014) to check parts of Alipur, Jalpaiguri, and Coochbehar districts Specimen collecton: Most of the cicadas in the feld of northern West Bengal in order to understand the were spoted by their calls. Individual cicadas were distributon patern of this cicada. The same localites observed through Canon EOS-600D Rebel T3i Digital SLR were again checked briefy in May 2015. In 2016, all the with Sigma 70–300 mm APO-Digimacro lens and the localites were monitored from April to May in order to observed behaviour was noted down. Though an atempt record its actvity period. All the localites of this cicada was made to take the counts of the individuals, due to found in northern West Bengal are given in Table 1 and a lack of uniform and adequate sampling technique, it shown in Fig. 1. The GPS locatons of its precise localites is not included in the paper. Afer collecton, two legs were acquired but only degree and minutes are produced and part of the thoracic tssues were extracted in order in the paper due to conservaton issues. This cicada was to preserve the DNA for future molecular work. Each not found in the northern part of Alipur District towards insect was fxed with a pin through the mesonotum with Jayant of Buxa Tiger Reserve, the northwestern part of wings outstretched afer the extracton of the tssue. Jalpaiguri District such as Baikunthapur Reserve Forest, Afer fxing the insect, it was kept in a hot air oven for 48 Belacoba, Ambari, Odlabari, and Mal Bazar areas, and hours at 56C.