Kempiola longipes ( Chopard, 1924 )

Kharkongor, Ilona Jacinta, Saikia, Uttam, Khynriam, Dimos & Saikia, Bhaskar, 2023, Current status of faunal diversity of Siju Cave, South Garo Hills, Meghalaya, Records of the Zoological Survey of India 123 (3), pp. 283-303 : 295

31. Kempiola longipes ( Chopard, 1924) [ Fig. 9K ]

1924. Kempiella longipes Chopard, Rec. Ind. Mus , 26: 87-89, pl. 5, Figs. 22-34.

Material examined: 4♀, 2♂, 2 juveniles. Siju Cave (~ 450- 950m inside the Cave), Siju village, South Garo Hills District , Meghalaya, 25 o 21.061’N, 90 o 41.006’E, 119m ,

03.i.2020, coll. I. J. Kharkongor & party, Reg. No.IV / ORTH /ERS-23; 1♀, 1♂, 2 juveniles. Siju Cave (~ 150- 350m inside the Cave), Siju village, South Garo Hills District , Meghalaya, 25 o 21.061’N, 90 o 41.006’E, 119m ,

04.i.2020, coll. I. J. Kharkongor & party, Reg. No.IV / ORTH /ERS-24; 1♀. Siju Cave (~ 150-200m inside the Cave), Siju village, South Garo Hills District , Meghalaya, 25 o 21.061’N, 90 o 41.006’E, 119m , 12.xii.2018, coll. I.J.Kharkongor & party, Reg. No.IV / ORTH /ERS-25; 12♀, 7♂. Siju Cave (~ 350-400m inside the Cave), Siju village, South Garo Hills District , Meghalaya, 25 o 21.061’N, 90 o 41.006’E, 119m , 12.xii.2018, coll. I. J. Kharkongor & party, Reg. No.IV / ORTH /ERS-26 .

Remarks: Kempiola longipes was first described from Siju Cave by Chopard (1924), based on one male and one female specimen collected by S. Kemp and B. Chopra from 1600-2000ft inside the Cave. The cotypes include specimens collected from the same cave at distances from 200-3600ft. from the cave entrance. Harries et al. (2008) record the presence of ‘orthoptera sp. 3’ that “approximates to the published description of Kempiola longipes ” that dominates the caves in the West Khasi Hills area of Meghalaya, making theirs the first record of this species from outside its Type locality and extending its distribution range to the eastern part of the State. The present report is based on collections made from locations about 150 – 950m from the entrance of Siju Cave during 2018-2020. To date, this species is not known to occur outside the caves of Meghalaya and the distributional record of the species from Assam by Vasanth (1995) is erroneous as it is probably based on published accounts of Chopard (1924, 1969) that showed the distribution of the species as Siju Cave, Garo Hills, Assam (now Meghalaya). The corrected distribution range of this species is South Garo Hills and West Khasi Hills of Meghalaya.

Figures

Figure 9. Fauna of Siju Cave. G. Cubaris cavernosus, H. Metassamia septemdentata, I. Heteropoda robusta, J. Typhloblatta caeca, K. Kempiola longipes and L. Tachys micraulax.