Melolontha nepalensis (Blanchard, 1851)

(Figs. 8, 20, 48, 60)

Hoplosternus nepalensis Blanchard 1851: 158 (type locality: Nepal); Brenske 1896a: 164; Dalla Torre 1912: 264 (catalogue); Zhang 1988: 244 (new record); Sabatinelli 1992: 616 (catalogue).

Melolontha nepalensis: Burmeister 1855: 411; Bates 1891: 16; Kumar et al. 2005: 15 – 20 (distribution, host record); Bezdĕk 2006: 196 (catalogue); Kumar et al. 2007: 103 – 109 (distribution); Li et al. 2010: 345, fig. 22; Krajčík 2012: 158; Bezdĕk 2016: 232 (catalogue).

Material examined. India, Himachal Pradesh (now Uttarakhand): Almorah, Kumaon, 5,500 ft., 14.iii.1901, 1♁, leg. C. Paiva, det. G.J. Arrow [NZSI]. Expedition of Himalayas, 1954, 1♁, leg. M.S. Mani. India, Uttarakhand: Garhwal, Piplakote, 15.viii.1958, 2♁, leg. B.S. Lamba [NZSI]; Garhwal, Joshimath, 7,000 ft., 31.viii.1958, 1♀, leg. B.S. Lamba [NZSI]; Nainital, 6.ix.2005, 1♁, leg. S.K. Chatterjee [NZSI]; Bageswar, 2.ix.2005, 1♁, leg. S.K. Chatterjee; Chamoli, 07.vii.2004, 1♁, leg. SK Chakraborty [NZSI] .

Diagnosis. Refer to species key.

Distribution. India: Himachal Pradesh (Bates 1891; Kumar et al. 2005) and Uttarakhand; Bangladesh (Dalla Torre 1912), China (Zhang 1988), and Nepal (Blanchard 1851).

Host plants. As per Kumar et al. (2005), M. nepalensis cause variable extents of damage to maise and paddy crop and infests upland paddy.