Science, Technology and Development ISSN : 0950-0707 STUDIES ON LONGHORN BEETLE FROM NORTHERN WESTERN GHATS OF KONKAN REGION OF MAHARASHTRA N. R. Hedulkar D. L. Bharamal Department of Zoology, Anandibai P. G. Department of Zoology, SPK Raorane Arts, Commerce and Science Mahavidyalay, Sawantwadi, Sindhudrg College Vaibhavwadi, Sindhudurg (MS) (MS) Abstract : The longhorn beetles of cerambycidae are group of phytophagus insects also known as longicorn beetles. There are eight subfamilies like Cerambycinae, Dorcasominae, Lamiinae, Lepturinae, Necydalinae, Parandrinae, Prioninae and Spondylidinae have recognized and 35000, species identified worldwide. Present study emphasised the first ever record of a longhorn beetle Cyrtonops punctipennis White, 1853 (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) from Northern Western Ghats of Sindhudurg district, Maharashtra, India. Key words: Cyrtonops, Cerambycid, Konkan Region, Western Ghats Introduction : The family name Cerambycidae originated from the Greek word “Cerambis” meaning “a horned b e e t l e . Cerambycids are widely distributed around the world from sea level up to 4,200 m above sea level wherever their host plants are found (Bezark, 2019). The longicorn adults are free-living beetles that may or may not need to feed. Females lay eggs o n or near their hosts. The larvae of most cerambicid species feed on woody plants, but some choose herbaceous hosts. The vast majority of larval species lives and forage inside plants, although small minorities live freely in the soil and feed on plant roots. Longhorn beetles do not attack healthy trees instead they attack weakened, died, recently felled, and burned damaged or killed trees, and can attack the newly felled dry wood. Adults help wood decompose by introducing yeasts, bacteria and decaying fungi that cause trees to rot and check into the wood. Cyrtonops is an interesting classic example among insect of this genus, which has sexual dimorphism. It shows the characteristics of palpation of the upper jaw that is exclusively male character. Linnaeus in his book “Sytema Naturae” in 1758 for the first time classified and named many longhorn beetle species. According to recent estimates, there are about 36,300 species of cerambycid under 5,300 different genera are described globally (Wang, 2017). The cerambycid fauna of India was first reported by Gahan, 1906 in his fauna of British India including Ceylon and Burma. According to him C. punctipennis is so far known from the Himalayas, Assam, Myanmar and Sumatra. In different regions of Maharashtra Cyrtonops was studied (Naidu and Ghate, 2018). The attempt has been made to study the C. punctipennis from Sindhudurg district. This is first attempt to give distribution record of C. punctipennis from different areas of Sindhudurg, Maharashtra, India. This confirms the habitat extension of locality of this species in the Sindhudurg district. Material and methods: The long- horned beetle Cyrtonops were collected using different light sources and identified by Gahan, 1906 and Naidu and Ghate 2018. The specimens were Volume IX Issue II FEBRUARY 2020 Page No : 478 Science, Technology and Development ISSN : 0950-0707 collected from some villages of Kankavali, Vaibhavadi tehsils and then were photographed and preserved in 70 percent alcohol. Table 1 Location sites of C. punctipennis Location Altitude Harkul kurd 16.2685° N, 73.7654° E Talere 16.4488° N, 73.6571° E Umbarde 16.5419° N, 73.7213° E Bhirwande 16.3000° N, 73.8390° E Kalmath 16.2705° N, 73.6992° E Yedgaon 16.4968° N, 73.7654° E Table 2 Occurrence of C. puctipennis in the study region Location occurrence Harkul kurd ++++ Talere +++ Umbarde ++ Bhirwande ++++ Kalmath +++ Yedgaon ++++ ++++ Highest in number +++ Average in number ++ Lowest in number + Poor in number Results and Discussion: Many authors have taken good efforts to study diversity and taxonomy of Cerambycids. Rodica and Chimisliu, 2010 provided data on the species diversity of Cerambycidae from Oltenia (southwest Romania) and determined taxa list of 156 species from 86 genera and 37 tribes, belonging to 5 subfamilies. Georgiev et al., 2013 recorded 48 species and subspecies of Cerambycid Belasitsa Mt. Noguera et al., (2009) reported total of 82 species, 62 genera, 27 tribes and 3 subfamilies of cerambycid in tropical region of Mexico. While studying cerambycids of Bhutan, which is geographically nearest, country to India Lazarev, Volume IX Issue II FEBRUARY 2020 Page No : 479 Science, Technology and Development ISSN : 0950-0707 (2019) reported 162 species known up to 2019. Gobbi et al., (2012) surveyed an area of 6,929 ha distributed along an altitudinal gradient of 1500 m in the Italian alpine valley and revealed about 88 long horned longicorn beetle species. Majumder et al., (2014) first time reported 10 species of the longhorn beetles from the state of Chhattisgarh. Similarly agriculturally important longhorns were studied by Kariyanna, et al (2019) and reported 28 species from 4 subfamilies. The first comprehensive updated list published by Mitra et al., (2017) on longhorns in Assam and reported 95 species from 3 subfamilies. From Northeastern India Behere (2017) also identified 95 different taxons, along with their details on species diversity, geographical information and peak activity period. Mitra et al., (2015) reported 37 species from 4 subfamilies of Crambycidae in Himachal Pardesh. During present study many individuals of this species collected along the locations (showed in Table no. 1 with their occurrence in Table no. 2.) Interestingly numbers of males captured were more. This showed the genus is naturally abundant in the study sites and confirms pretty good abundance of the species at study sites. This is first ever report showing distribution of C. punctipennis from Sindhudurg district. Figure 1. Male Cyrtonops punctipennis Volume IX Issue II FEBRUARY 2020 Page No : 480 Science, Technology and Development ISSN : 0950-0707 Figure 2. Abdomen, Male C. punctipennis Figure 3. Male C. punctipennis, Maxillary palpi Acknowledgment: Author 1 is thankful to Dr. H.V. Ghate, Professor of Zoology (Retd.), Modern college, Pune for his kind guidance in identification of species. References: 1. Behere, G. T., Firake D. M., Thubru D. P., Burange P. S. and Ngachan S.V. (2017). Longhorn beetles (Coleoptera : Cerambycidae ) of northeastern India : An Overview. Indian Journal of Hill Farming, 2, 42–54. 2. Bezark, L. G. (2019). Checklist of the Oxypeltidae , Vesperidae , 3. Disteniidae and Cerambycidae , ( Coleoptera ) of the Western Hemisphere. December 2018, 1–503. 4. Gahan, C. J. (1906). The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Coleoptera. - Vol.(Cerambycidæ). 329. 5. Georgiev, G., Doychev, D., Simov, N., Guéorguiev, B., and Bekchiev, R. (2013). Contribution to the knowledge of Cerambycid fauna (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) of Belasitsa Mountain in Bulgaria. 6. Silva Balcanica. Gobbi, M., Priore, C., Tattoni, C., and Lencioni, V. (2012). Surprising longhorned beetle (Coleoptera,Cerambycidae) richness along an Italian alpine valley. ZooKeys. https://doi.org/10.3897/zoo keys.208.31 93 7. Kariyanna, B. , Gupta R., Mohan M. and Vitali F. (2019). Wood-Boring Longhorn Beetles (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) Of Agroforest Ecosystem In India. 81(1), 34–36. 8. Lazarev,M A.. (2019). Catalogue of Bhutan Longhorn beetles (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae). Humanity Space International Almanac, 8(2), 141–198. Volume IX Issue II FEBRUARY 2020 Page No : 481 Science, Technology and Development ISSN : 0950-0707 9. Majumder, A., Raha, A., Mitra, B., Ghate, H. V., and Chandra, K. (2014). Longhorned beetles (Coleoptera : Cerambycidae ) from Chhattisgarh , India. 6(January), 5393–5399. 10. Mitra, B., Chakraborti, U., Mallick, K., Bhaumik, S., and Das, P. (2017). An Updated List of Cerambycid Beetles (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) of Assam, India. Records of the Zoological Survey of India, 117(1), 78. 11. Mitra, B., Majumder, A., Chakraborti, U., Das, P., and Mallick, K. (2015). Longhorn Beetles (Cerambycidae: Coleoptera) of Himachal Pradesh. Rec. Zool. Surv. India, 115(November 2016), 405–409. 12. Naidu N. M. and Ghate H. V.(2018) Report of a longhorn beele Cyrtonops punctipennis White, 1853 (Coleoptera:Cerambycidae) from Maharashtra, India. a, Journal of Threatened Taxa 10(1): 11201–1120 13. Noguera, F. A., Ortega-Huerta, M. A., Zaragoza-Caballero, S., González- Soriano, E., and Ramírez-García, E. (2009). A faunal study of Cerambycidae (Coleoptera) from one region with tropical dry forest in Mexico: Sierra de San Javier, Sonora. The Pan-Pacific Entomologist. https://doi.org/10.3956/2009- 04.1 14. Rodica, S. and Chimisliu, C. (2010). Contributions to the knowledge of the diversity of Cerambycids (Coleoptera: Chrysomeloidea: Cerambycidae) from Oltenia fauna, Romania. Muzeul Olteniei Craiova. 15. Wang, Q. (2017). Cerambycidae of the World Biology and Pest Management, (2017). CRC Press Taylor & Francis Group. https://doi.org/10.1201/b21851 Volume IX Issue II FEBRUARY 2020 Page No : 482.