Melolontha cuprescens Blanchard, 1871

(Figs. 6, 18, 46, 58)

Melolontha cuprescens Blanchard 1871: 811 (type locality: Tibet); Fairmaire, 1889: 19 (description); Bates 1891: 16 (diagnosis); Nonfried 1892: 286 (checklist); Dalla Torre 1912: 267 (catalogue); Arrow 1921: 13, fig. 5 (habitus, distribution); Mittal 1981: 35 – 40 (distribution); Chandra 1986: 88, figs., 52 – 54, 288 (distribution); Sabatinelli 1992: 615 (catalogue); Mittal 2000: 266 (distribution); Chandra 2005: 152 (distribution); Bezděk 2006: 194 (catalogue); Li et al. 2010: 344; Chandra ET al. 2012: 51 (distribution); Pathania et al. 2015a: 53, 54 (distribution); Pathania et al. 2015b: 131 (distribution); Bezděk 2016: 231 (catalogue); Sreedevi et al. 2017: 324 (checklist); Ghosh et al. 2020: 248 (checklist); Rana et al. 2022a: 281– 305 (description of grubs and adults); Rana et al. 2022b: 71–82.

Material examined. India, Uttarakhand: Garhwal, Govind Wildlife Sanctuary, 10.xii.2009, 1♁, leg. Manish Bhardwaj [NZSI]. 1♁, without locality data, leg. Brenske [NZSI] .

Diagnosis. Refer to species key.

Distribution. India: Himachal Pradesh (Mittal 2000; Pathania et al. 2015a, b; Sreedevi et al. 2017; Rana et al. 2022 a, 2022b), Haryana (Ghosh et al. 2020), Jammu & Kashmir (Arrow 1921), and Uttarakhand (Chandra et al. 2012); China (Tibet) (Blanchard 1871).

Host plant. Potato (Chandel et al. 2015).