Melolontha furcicauda Ancey, 1881

Gupta, Devanshu, Keith, Denis, Bhunia, Debika, Das, Priyanka, Ghosh, Joyjit & Chandra, Kailash, 2023, Review of Melolontha Fabricius, 1775 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae) from India with the description of two new species, Zootaxa 5263 (2), pp. 191-216 : 213

publication ID	https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5263.2.2
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:B07051F2-A15B-49EC-9A2F-91B9420FEA4A
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7800974
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/BC1F87FF-1368-FFEE-FF74-FDE6FD45BED2
treatment provided by	Plazi (2023-04-05 06:52:47, last updated 2024-11-26 05:29:02)
scientific name	Melolontha furcicauda Ancey, 1881
status

Treatment

( Figs. 12 View FIGURES 9–12 , 24 View FIGURES 19–24 , 52 View FIGURES 47–52 , 64 View FIGURES 53–64 )

Melolontha furcicauda Ancey 1881: 412 (type locality: Ladak, Thibet); Nonfried 1892: 286 (checklist); Dalla Torre 1912: 268 (catalogue); Arrow 1921: 13 (distribution); Mittal 1981: 35 – 40 (distribution); Mittal 2000: 266 (checklist); Bezdĕk 2006: 195 (catalogue); Chandra & Uniyal 2007: 2821 (distribution); Sood et al. 2009: 370 – 376 (distribution); Kumar et al. 2005: 15 – 20 (distribution, host record); Kumar et al. 2007: 103 – 109 (distribution); Keith & Saltin 2012: 21, pl. 5A–J, 7A–I, 8A–J, pl. 9, 10 (illustration of type material); Krajčík 2012: 158 (checklist); Singh & Banyal 2013: 1059 (distribution); Roy et al. 2014: 13 (host); Pathania et al. 2015a: 53 (distribution); Pathania et al. 2015b: 131 (distribution); Feroz et al. 2015: 175, figs. 2a – d (distribution); Bezdĕk 2016: 231 (catalogue); Lal & Sharma 2017: 447 – 452 (distribution); Kumar et al. 2018: 534 (distribution); Ghosh et al. 2020: 249 (checklist); Rana et al. 2022a: 281–305 (description of grubs and adults); Rana et al. 2022b: 71–82.

Hoplosternus furcicauda: Dalla & Torre 1912: 264 (catalogue); Sabatinelli 1992: 613 (catalogue); Zhang 1988: 244 (new record, description).

Hoplosternus bifurcatus Brenske 1896a: 164 (type locality: Kashmir, Nepal); Barlow 1899: 269 (N – E Frontier); Dalla Torre 1912: 264 (catalogue); Sabatinelli 1992: 613 (catalogue); Li et al. 2010: 345 (as a junior synonym of M. furcicauda ).

Melolontha furcienanda: Li et al. 2010: 345 (checklist, misspelling).

Hoplosternus furcicandus Brenske 1896a: 163 (description, misspelling); Barlow 1899: 270 (misspelling).

Melolontha insignis Semenov 1890: 197 (Kundshut, Ljub-dshangal); Fairmaire 1891: LXXXVII (diagnosis); Reitter 1902: 259; Dalla Torre 1912: 270 (catalogue); Bezdĕk 2006: 196 (catalogue); Keith & Saltin 2012: 22, pl. 6 (habitus, holotype male, aedeagus) (as a junior synonym of M. furcicauda ).

Hoplosternus insignis: Dalla Torre 1912: 264 (catalogue); Balthasar 1936: 205 (distribution); Medvedev 1951: 115 (description); Sabatinelli 1992: 613 (catalogue).

Material examined. India, Himachal Pradesh: Great Himalayan National Park, Dhagra, 17.v.1996, 2 exs., leg. V.P. Uniyal [ NZSI]; Solan , 30.vi.1968, 1♁, leg. O.B. Chhotani ; Kulu Manali , 03.vii.1956, 1♀, leg. M.S. Mani ; Chamba, Kalatop Khajjiar Wildelife Snctuary, Pithoragorh , Sangolihat , 24.v.2010, 1♀, leg. A.K. Sindhu ( NZSI) . India, Ladakh: Hunder Forest Guest House, 28.viii.2008, 3♁, 29.viii.2008, 1♀, leg. K. Chandra [ NZSI]; Ladakh , Leh , Phey , 18.viii.2019, 10♀, leg. A.K. Sidhu ( NZSI) . India, Uttarakhand: Bageshwar, 30.ix.2004, 1♁, 1♀, leg. D.R. Moulik ( NZSI); Bageshwar, Chanoda, 29.viii.2005, 1♀, leg. S.K. Chatterjee ( NZSI); Nainital, 06.ix.2005, 3♁, leg. S.K. Chhatterjee ( NZSI); Nainital, Shila Lake , 07.viii.2004, 1♁, leg. M. Ghosh ( NZSI); Nainital, Naukoshiya, 05.viii.2004, 1♀, leg. M. Ghosh ( NZSI); Nainital, Bhowali, 08.ix.2005, 4♁, leg. S.K. Chatterjee ; Dehradun, Balowgunj, 14.viii.1965, 2♁, leg. R.K. Bhatnagar ( NZSI); Pithoragarh , Gangolihat , 05.ix.2005, 2♀, leg. S.K. Chatterjee ; Almora, near Almorah Circuit House, 11.ix.2002, 1♁, leg. P.H. Roy ( NZSI); Garhwal , Dhakwani , 14.viii.1958, 1♀, leg. B.S. Lamba ( NZSI) .

Diagnosis. Refer to species key.

Distribution. India: Haryana ( Mittal 1981), Himachal Pradesh ( Mittal 2000; Chandra & Uniyal 2007; Sood et al. 2009; Kumar et al. 2005; Kumar et al. 2007; Singh & Banyal 2013; Pathania et al. 2015a, 2015b; Rana et al. 2022 a, 2022b), Jammu and Kashmir ( Brenske 1896a; Barlow 1899; Kumar et al. 2018), Ladakh ( Ancey 1881; Arrow 1921; Feroz et al. 2015), Sikkim ( Barlow 1899), Uttarakhand ( Lal & Sharma 2017), and West Bengal (Darjeeling) ( Barlow 1899); Afghanistan ( Bezdĕk 2016), Bangladesh, China ( Zhang 1988), Nepal ( Brenske 1896a), Pakistan ( Keith & Saltin 2012), and Tajikistan ( Bezdĕk 2016).

Host records. Melolontha furcicauda cause variable extents of damage to maize crop and infests upland paddy, tea plantations and conifers ( Kumar et al. 2005).

References

Ancey, F. (1881) Descriptions des Coleopteres nouveaux. Le Naturaliste, 1, 412 - 413.

Arrow, G. J. (1921) Scarabaeidae. Melolonthinae, Rutelinae et Dynastinae. In: Babault, G. (Ed.), Mission dans les Provinces centrales de l'Inde et dans la region occidentale de l'Himalaya. s. n., Paris, pp. 1 - 16.

Balthasar, V. (1936) Entomologische Sammelergebnisse der Deutschen Hindukush-Expedition 1935 der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft. Scarabaeidae: Sericinae, Melolonthinae, Rutelinae und Hopliinae. Arbeiten uber Morphologische und Taxonomische Entomologie aus Berlin-Dahlem, 3, 202 - 208.

Barlow, E. (1899) List of the Melolonthini contained in the collection of the Indian Museum. Indian Museum Notes, 4 (5), 234 - 273.

Bezdek, A. (2006) Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae. In: Lobl, I. & Smetana, S. (Eds.), Catalogue of Palaearctic Coleoptera 3. Apollo Books, Stenstrup and Denmark, pp. 181 - 228.

Bezdek, A. (2016) Melolonthini. In: Lobl, I. & Lobl, D. (Eds.), Catalogue of Palaearctic Coleoptera 3 Scarabaeoidea - Scirtoidea - Dascilloidea - Buprestoidea - Byrrhoidea. Revised and updated edition. Brill, Leiden and Boston, pp. 226 - 236.

Brenske, E. (1896 a) Insectes du Bengale. (37 e Memoire.) Melolonthidae. Annales de la Societe Entomologique de Belgique, 40, 150 - 164.

Chandra, K. & Uniyal, V. P. (2007) On a collection of Pleurostict Scarabaeidae (Coleoptera) from Great Himalayan National Park, Himachal Pradesh. Zoos' Print Journal, 22 (9), 2821 - 2823. https: // doi. org / 10.11609 / JoTT. ZPJ. 1458.2821 - 3

Dalla Torre, K. W. von (1912) Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae I. In: Junk, W. & Schenkling, S. (Eds.), Coleopterorum Catalogus. Pars 49. W. Junk, Berlin, pp. 1 - 290.

Fairmaire, L. (1891) Descriptions de coleopteres des montagnes de Kashmir (Suite). Bulletin ou Comptes-Rendus des Seances de la Societe Entomologique de Belgique, 1891, LXXXVIII - CIII.

Feroz, M., Tara, J. S., Azam, M. & Ramamurthy, V. V. (2015) Staphylinidae, Scarabaeidae, Dermestidae and Curculionidae (Insecta: Coleoptera) first record, from Kargil (Ladakh), J & K - India. Munis Entomology and Zoology, 10 (1), 172 - 182.

Ghosh, J., Das, P., Ghosh, S. K., Bhunia, D., Kushwaha, R. K., Gupta, D. & Chandra, K. (2020) Insecta: Coleoptera. In: Director (ed.), Fauna of Haryana, State Fauna Series, 24 (1), 221 - 275.

Keith, D. & Saltin, J. P. (2012) Premiere contribution a la connaissance des Melolontha Fabricius, 1775 du Pakistan (Coleoptera, Scarabaeoidea, Melolonthidae). Revue de l'Association Roussillonaise d'Entomologie, 21 (1), 20 - 35.

Krajcik, M. (2012) Checklist of the World Scarabaeoidea. Animma. x, Supplement 5, 1 - 278.

Kumar, J., Sharma, S. D., Lal, R. & Deor, B. S. (2005) White grubs damaging maise and paddy crops in Kullu and Mandi districts of Himachal Pradesh. Pest Management and Economic Zoology, 13 (1), 15 - 20.

Kumar, J., Sharma, S. D. & Lal, R. (2007) Scarabaeid beetles of Kullu valley, Himachal Pradesh. Entomon, 32 (2), 103 - 110.

Kumar, R., Ahad, I., Rehman, S. A. & Dorjey, S. (2018) Impact of weather parameters on population dynamics of soil borne insect pests infesting oats (Avena sativa L.) in North Kashmir. Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies, 6 (3), 533 - 537.

Lal, M. & Sharma, P. K. (2017) Species composition and abundance of white grubs (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) in agricultural ecosystem of district Dehradun (Uttarakhand), India. Journal of Environment and Bio-sciences, 31 (2), 301 - 305.

Li, C. - L., Yang, P. - S. & Wang, C. - C. (2010) Revision of the Melolontha guttigera group with a key and an annotated checklist of the East and South-East Asian Melolontha groups. Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 103 (3), 341 - 359. https: // doi. org / 10.1603 / AN 09088

Medvedev, S. I. (1951) Fauna USSR: Coleoptera. 10 No. 1. Lamellicornia (Scarabaeidae), subfam. Melolonthinae. Part 1. Izdatelstvo Akademii Nauk SSSR, Moskva, Leningrad, 514 pp. [in Russian]

Mittal, I. C. (1981) Scarabaeids of Haryana and surrounding areas. Bulletin of Entomology, 22, 35 - 40.

Mittal, I. C. (2000) Survey of Scarabaeid (Coleoptera) fauna of Himachal Pradesh (India). Journal of Entomological Research, 24 (3), 259 - 269.

Nonfried, A. F. (1892) Verzeichniss der seit 1871 neu beschriebenen Glaphyriden, Melolonthiden und Euchiriden. Berliner entomologische Zeitschrift, 37 (3), 249 - 290. https: // doi. org / 10.1002 / mmnd. 18920370302

Pathania, M., Chandel, R. S., Verma, K. S. & Mehta, P. K. (2015 a) Diversity and population dynamics of phytophagous scarabaeid beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) in different landscapes of Himachal Pradesh, India. Arthropods, 4 (2), 46 - 68.

Pathania, M., Chandel, R. S., Verma, K. S. & Mehta, P. K. (2015 b) Studies on the preliminary ecology of invasive phytophagous Indian Scarabaeidae of North Western Himalaya. Science, Technology and Arts Research Journal, 4 (2), 127 - 138. https: // doi. org / 10.4314 / star. v 4 i 2.16

Rana, A., Chandel, R. S. & Verma, K. S. (2022 a) Morphological description and identification of Melolontha cuprescens, Melolontha furcicauda and Melolontha indica (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae): serious root feeding and defoliating pests in India. Phytoparasitica, 50, 281 - 305. https: // doi. org / 10.1007 / s 12600 - 021 - 00961 - 5

Rana, A., Chandel, R. S., Sharma, K. D., Chandel, S. S. & Verma, K. S. (2022 b) Phylogeneticanalysisof Melolontha and Polyphylla beetles (Scarabaeidae: Coleoptera) from north - western Himalaya, India. Phytoparasitica, 50, 71 - 82. https: // doi. org / 10.1007 / s 12600 - 021 - 00945 - 5

Reitter, E. (1902) Bestimmungs-Tabelle der Melolonthidae aus der europaischen fauna und angrenzenden landern, enthaltend die gruppen der Pachydemini, Sericini und Melolonthini. Verhandlungen des Naturforschenden Vereins in Brunn, XL [1901], 93 - 303.

Roy, S., Muraleedharan, N. & Pujari, D. (2014) Acatalogue of arthropod pests and their natural enemies in the tea ecosystem of India. Two and a Bud, 61 (1 & 2), 11 - 39.

Sabatinelli, G. (1992) Catalogue of the Scarabaeoidea Melolonthidae from Himalaya and North India: Macrodactylini, Hopliini, Diplotaxini, Melolonthini and Sericini (Coleoptera). Memorie della Societa Entomologica Italiana, 71 (2), 593 - 636.

Semenov, A. P. (1890) Diagnoses Coleopterorum novorun ex Asia Centrali et Orientali. II. Horae Societatis Entomologicae Rossicae, 24 [1989 - 1890], 193 - 226. https: // doi. org / 10.1086 / 275085

Singh, V. & Banyal, H. S. (2013) Insect fauna of Khajjiar Lake of Chamba district, Himachal Pradesh, India. Pakistan Journal of Zoology, 45 (4), 1053 - 1061.

Sood, P., Mehta, P. K., Chandel, R. S. & Chandel, Y. S. (2009) Population dynamics of whitegrubs in the offseason pea ecosystem and their management under temperate region of North - Western Himalaya. Journal of Insect Science, 22 (4), 370 - 376.

Zhang, Y. W. (1988) Scarabaeidae. In: Huang, F. S., Wang, P. Y., Yin, W. Y., Yu, P. Y., Lee, T. S., Yang, C. K. & Wang, X. J. (Eds.), Insects of Mt. Namjagbarwa region of Xizang. Beijing Science Press, Beijing, pp. 227 - 248. [in Chinese with English translation]

Figures

FIGURES 9–12. Habitus of Melolontha species. 9, M. carinata; 10, M. indica; 11, M. flabellata; 12, M. furcicauda.

FIGURES 19–24. Pygidium of Melolontha species. 19, M. chinensis; 20, M. nepalensis; 21, M. carinata; 22, M. indica; 23, M. flabellata; 24, M. furcicauda.

FIGURES 47–52. Parameres of Melolontha species in dorsal view. 47, M. chinensis; 48, M. nepalensis; 49, M. carinata; 50, M. indica; 51, M. flabellata; 52, M. furcicauda.

FIGURES 53–64. Parameres of Melolontha species in lateral view. 53, M. guttigera; 54, M. virescens; 55, M. arunachalensis new species (holotype); 56, M. lachungensis new species (holotype); 57, M. aeneicollis; 58, M. cuprescens; 59, M. chinensis; 60, M. nepalensis; 61, M. carinata; 62, M. indica; 63, M. flabellata; 64, M. furcicauda.