An update on the Diversity, Distribution and Zoo-geographical notes on Longhorn Beetles (Cerambycidae: Coleoptera) of North-East India

Author: Bulganin Mitra, Subhrajit Bhaumik, Udipta Chakraborti and Kaushik Mallick

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Abstract

Wood boring is carried out by various insect groups either to obtain food or for the protection of their eggs, larvae and pupae. Among the wood boring insects of the freshly felled logs, the long-horned beetles or roundhead borers belonging to the order Coleoptera and family Cerambycidae are found in large varieties and abundance in the tropics and are also very successful in colonising in the hills of North-East India. Present communication reports an update of 562 species under 211 genera of 56 tribes belonging to 5 subfamilies of the family Cerambycidae from 8 states of North-East India i.e. Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura. The present study also reveals that longhorn beetles of North-East India are mostly enriched with Oriental species (365) followed by Palearctic (174), Australasian (10) and Afrotropical species (5) and rest from the other zoogeographical regions.

Keywords

Longhorn beetle, Cerambycidae; North-East India.

Conclusion

The present study reveals that North-East India is one of the diverse biogeographic zones in India in relation to the faunal composition of Longhorn beetles and mostly enriched with Oriental species (365). 174 species found from these states which are distributed up to Palearctic region. Only 5 species have extended their distribution up to Australasian and 10 up to Afrotropical regions. This review work serves as baseline data of the cerambycid fauna of North-East India. More surveys will definitely bring many more new species or new records of cerambycid beetles from this area in future.

References

The North-East India is popularly known as “Gateway of Indian insect fauna”. Therefore, this area is one of the richest in biodiversity with high in fauna species endemism. But, meagre and scattered information on the taxonomic diversity and distribution of longhorn beetles of this highly sensitive zone of India are available. No holistic approach has also been made so far to update the scientific nomenclature of cerambycids in the light of modern classification. Taxonomic knowledge of these beetles till date is based on their stray collections only from the eight states of North-East India. Keeping in view an attempt has been made to explore published literature, compiled and updated information on the reported species of long horn beetles from the eight states of North-East India i.e. Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura. The family Cerambycidae of the Order Coleoptera is currently classified under the superfamily Chrysomeloidea, a

How to cite this article

Bulganin Mitra, Subhrajit Bhaumik, Udipta Chakraborti and Kaushik Mallick (2017). An update on the Diversity, Distribution and Zoo-geographical notes on Longhorn Beetles (Cerambycidae: Coleoptera) of North-East India , Biological Forum – An Internation