A checklist of the Long-horned Beetles (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) of Arunachal Pradesh, northeastern India with several new reports

1 Department of Plant Protection, College of Horticulture and Forestry, Central Agricultural University, Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh 791102, India 2 College of Post Graduate Studies, Central Agricultural University, Umiam (Barapani), Meghalaya 793103, India 3 Network Project on Insect Biosystematics, Division of Entomology, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110012, India 1 kumawatmm@gmail.com (corresponding author), 2 mamoento@gmail.com, 3 vvrento@gmail.com


INTRODUCTION
The state of Arunachal Pradesh situated in the northeastern region of India has six broad rich forest types. The location of the state is at the juncture of palaearctic, Indo-China and Indo-Myanmar bio-geographical regions. Longicorn beetles are forest insects that constitute one of the largest groups of wood boring beetles. Most are dead wood feeders while some contribute to regulating living forest and fruit trees including plantation crops, weeds, orchids etc. The family cerambycidae contains more than 35,000 species under 4,000 genera in 11 subfamilies (Lawrence 1982). A total 396 species of cerambycids were described by Gahan (1906) from the Indian subcontinent. About 1500 species of cerambycids were recorded from India (Beeson 1941;Breuning 1960Breuning -62, 1964Breuning , 1965Breuning , 1966. Sengupta & Sengupta 1981 recorded 16 cerambycids from Arunachal Pradesh. Later eight species of longicorns were reported in West Siang of Arunachal Pradesh by Singh et al. (2010). Several more species have been reported from India and adjacent countries (Holzschuh 1999(Holzschuh , 2003Ghate 2012;Agarwala & Bhattacharjee 2012).
Arunachal Pradesh covers an area of 83,743km 2 and lies between 26 0 28'-29 0 30'N & 91 0 20'-97 0 30'E. Owing to great altitudinal variation, from less than 100m to above 5,000m climate varies with elevation and receives heavy rainfall of 80-160 inches (2,000-4,100 mm) annually, most of it between May to September and humidity ranges from 70-98 % (Hegde 2003). The complex geography and numerous altitudinal gradients support a high biodiversity hot spot enabling the cerambycids for better survival. The present study was taken up as an initiative to identify and document the longicorn beetles of this region.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
The study was conducted from 2008 to 2013 in subtropical plain and hill zone (East Siang, West Siang, Upper Siang, Lower Siang, Lohit, Changlang, Ziro and Papumpare districts) of Arunachal Pradesh. The longicorn beetles were collected from ornamental plants, old and fresh wooden logs, trees, weeds of the forest and also with light traps. The individual specimens were picked up with forceps, placed in a killing jar containing benzene, and pinned (Chandra et al. 2015). The specimens were dried and transferred to insect boxes and kept at the Department of Plant Protection, College of Horticulture and Forestry, Pasighat. Collected specimens were identified to species level following key characters provided by Gahan (1906), Rondon & Breuning (1970), Mukhopadhyay & Biswas (2000a), Mukhopadhyay & Halder (2004), Holzschuh (1999Holzschuh ( , 2003 and also compared with identified specimens present in the National Pusa Collection, Division of Entomology, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi. The taxonomic synonyms were collected from various sources (Aurivillius 1912;Breuning 1957Breuning , 1964Breuning , 1965Breuning , 1966Cherepanov 1979;Hayashi & Makihara 1981;Hayashi et al. 1988;Chemsak 1996;Holzschuh 1999Holzschuh , 2003Makihara et al. 2002Makihara et al. , 2008Heffern 2005;Miguel 2005; Lobl & Smetana 2010) and compiled. The specimens discussed in this work were deposited in the National Pusa Collection, Division of Entomology, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
During the five year survey, 49 species of cerambycids belonging to three subfamilies were recorded. Subfamily Lamiinae was found to be dominant with 28 species followed by Cerambycinae with 11 species. Subfamily Prioninae included 10 species. Rhytidodera griseofasciata Pic reported from China earlier is being reported from India for the first time during the present study. However, the biology and host plants of R. griseofasciata remain unknown. Beside this, seven species, viz., Nupserha nigriceps, Pterolophia (Hylobrotus) tuberculatrix, Neocerambyx grandis, Olenecamptus indianus, Obereopsis obscura obscura, Aristobia reticulator and Sarothrocera lowii are being reported from Arunachal Pradesh, northeastern India for the first time. The status of the new reports of the present study were confirmed by reviewing previously published literature of Zoological Survey of India (Sengupta & Sengupta 1981;Mukhopadhyay & Biswas 2000a, 2002bMukhopadhyay & Halder 2004;Anonymous 2006;Ramakrishna & Alfred 2006;Singh et al. 2007), Gahan (1906), Singh et al. (2010), Agarwala & Bhattacharjee (2012), CAB abstracts, Catalogue of life and Zoological records. The known host plants and colour images of all the specimens have also been included in the present paper. Quentin & Villiers, 1981 Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr. 17 (3): 361-383.
Biology: The adult appears in June-July. It is a borer of stumps and decaying logs making very large tunnels, the mature larva being over five inches long (Beeson 1941).
Host Plants: Sapium sebiferum, Salmalia malabarica (Duffy 1968); Ailanthus triphysa (Verma 1986). Thomson, 1857    Biology: The grubs are brownish in colour having flattened head and thorax, soft and distinctly segmented abdomen. Eggs are laid single in the epidermis of the stems. On hatching, grubs bore into the long trailing stems or near the node and tunnel inside. Adult beetles gnaw the leaf petioles and soft parts of the stem. Egg, larval and pupal periods last for 5-7, 31-35 and 7-9 days, respectively (Srivastava & Butani 2009;Muthukrishnan et al. 2005).

Baralipton maculosum
Host Plants: Ivy gourd, bottle gourd, ridge gourd, snake gourd, sponge gourd, pumpkin (Beeson 1941;Nair 1975;David & Ramamurthy 2012 Biology: The pest overwinters as grub inside the stem from October to February. Adult emergence from stems takes place usually during May. Incubation, grub and pupal periods last for 5-6, 22-33 and 6-8 days, respectively. A life cycle is completed in 35-46 days and adult longevity is 33-39 days (Lefroy 1909). There are 3 to four generations in a year.
Host Plants: Ridge gourd, smooth gourd, sponge gourd (Srivastava & Butani 2009), chow-chow, Sechium eduli; Coccinia indica (David & Ramamurthy 2012) and Cephalandra sp. Breuning, 1969 (Image 14) Apomecyna Biology: The adult beetle emerges in June to July. Females lay their eggs on the branches of the litchi tree; the grubs bore into thebark and feed beneath it. Later, grubs enter deep into the sapwood. The last larval instars were observed in the last week of April to the first week of May. The freshly emerged adults were found in the pupal chamber in the middle of June in Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh. Only one generation is completed in a year. Biology: One generation was observed each year with adults emerging in July. They removed bark rings around twigs, which then withered. Eggs were laid individually under the bark mainly in August, hatched generally in September and fed below the bark before hibernation (August-December). After hibernation the larvae bored into the wood, producing tunnels up to about 60cm long (Ho et al. 1990).

Apomecyna tigrina indica
Host Plants: Litchi, Guava, Pigeonpea (Shylesha et al. 2000;Firake et al. 2012), Microcos paniculata (Agarwala & Bhattacharjee 2015) and Dimocarpus longana. The species is reported for the first time on litchi, Litchi chinensis in Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh during the present study. The litchi plantations of the region including research farm of litchi in the College of Horticulture and Forestry, CAU, India suffered heavily.
Remarks: A. approximator characterized by the presence of a strong tuft of hairs at the apical half of the third antennal segment only in both sexes, whereas A. reticulator possesses tufts of hairs on the apices of the third, fourth, and most often on fifth antennal segments; these tufts are most prominent on the third segment, less so on the fourth segment, and feebly so, if present, on the fifth segment (Hua 2002;Jiroux et al. 2014;Agarwala & Bhattacharjee 2015). Biology: The beetles emerged during April. The eggs are laid on the bark or on wounds in the months of April to May. The larvae on hatching, tunnel through the bark till they reach the bast and then bore deeper and eat out a winding gallery. The larvae spend about nine months and enter into pupal stage which lasts from six weeks to two months. The grubs pupate in January or February. There is only one generation per year (Stebbing 1914 Biology: Adults emerge in early June and continue till July. The adults live for about four months. Adults rest on their food plants and feed on the bark of the young twigs. A single female lays 55-60 eggs in the bark. The grubs bore into the bark and reach into the sap wood. It pupates in a chamber under the bark. The life cycle completes in 22-32 months (Rahman & Khan 1942).
Remarks: B. horsfieldi characterized by the presence of smoky or grayish pubescence on black elytra with multi striped whitish longitudinal pubescence bands are present on middle of each elytron. Mesepimeron covered with whitish pubescence leaving a narrow triangular mark uncovered near the juncture of mesepisternum. Lateral lobes of apical tegmen of male genitalia are narrow, long and less jointed from their base to each other. Batocera lineolata is closely related species possesses reddishbrown or dark brown elytra covered with brownish pubescence with cloudy striped longitudinal whitish yellow pubescence band on each elytron. Mesepimeron covered with dense whitish pubescence without leaving a narrow triangular mark. Lateral lobes of apical tegmen are broad and their basal half jointed to each other. The median lobe of male B. horsfieldi is broad at base as compared to B. lineolata (Ponpinij 2011;Ying et al. 2012 Biology: Larvae of this species feed on the inner bark, and the damage they do to the sapwood is only superficial, for even the pupal cells are constructed almost entirely in the bark (Beeson & Bhatia 1939;Fraser 1949). The emergence hole is circular, but usually somewhat ragged. Emergence occurs more or less throughout the year, although the main period in India is in June. The life cycle normally lasts a year.
Host Plants: More than 50 subtropical forest trees (Beeson & Bhatia 1939). Fraser (1949) records this species from Afzelia. Duffy (1953a) reported from Artocarpus sp. Dawah et al. (2013) observed on mango as host in Saudi Arabia.  (Beeson 1941). Adults feed on the bark of the twigs. The female lays eggs on the bark by making a slit or incision with the help of mandibles. The newly hatched larva makes tunnels in the cambiam, later penetrating deeper in the wood resulting in the abnormal callus like growth or bulging base formed known as canker around the wounded portion of the trunk.

Epepeotes uncinatus
Epepeotes uncinatus Breuning, 1961 Bull. Inst. roy. Sc.nat. Belg. 37(20) Biology: Emergence occurs in April-June, mainly May. The life-cycle is annual. The prepupal tunnel and pupal chamber are carried deep into the wood. The beetle escapes by an imaginal tunnel from the base of the pupal chamber (Beeson 1941;Duffy 1968 Biology: The life-cycle is annual with the beetle emergence in April-July (April 16%, May 68%, June 15%) (Beeson 1941). It lays eggs on the bark, on hatching the grub bores into the bast and feeds on sapwood, eating out ramifying gallaries. It is not found on freshly felled trees (Stebbing 1914). Lefroy (1909) confirmed that the larvae are found abundantly in the decaying trunk.
Host Plants: Bombax malabaricum and Sterculia villosa, the other species of Glenea attack on Zanthoxylum rhetsa and Bombax ceiba  Biology: Emergence occurs in April-May. The pupal chamber is vacated by the beetle through an imaginal tunnel from its lower end (Beeson 1941).

Nupserha nigriceps
Distribution: North East India, Himalayan India, Taiwan Biology: The adult beetle girdles the stem at two levels before it starts oviposition. This causes withering, drooping and death of the portion above the lower girdle to a length varying from 5-50 cm thus resulting in loss of fibre yield. Girdling causes suspension of unidirectional vertical growth, and this is followed by the appearance of a number of side branches, which are of little value from the point of view of fibre (Dutt 1956;Dutt 1961).
Host Plants: Jute, Corchorus olitorius and C. capsularis (Dutt 1952;ICJC 1958). Breuning, 1957 (Image 31) Obereopsis obscura obscura Breuning, 1957 Indian Forest Rec. (New Series)  Olenecamptus rouyeri Pic, 1916 Mel. exot. Ent. 17: 6. Olenecamptus bilobus m. madecassa Breuning, 1940 Novit. Entomol. 11, 66-71: 555. Olenecamptus bilobus m. trimaculata Breuning, 1940 Novit. Entomol. 11, 66-71: 555. Olenecamptus bilobus m. borneensis Breuning, 1940 Novit. Entomol. 11, 66-71: 555. Olenecamptus bilobus m. rouyeri Breuning, 1940 Novit. Entomol. 11, 66-71: 555. Olenecamptus bilobus m. dahli Breuning, 1940 Novit. Entomol. 11, 66-71: 556. Olenecamptus bilobus m. confluens Breuning, 1940 Novit. Entomol. 11, 66-71: 556. Olenecamptus serratus Breuning, 1940 Novit. Entomol. 11, 66-71: 556 Biology: The female beetles lay their eggs beneath the bark of the tree trunk by making a cut with their mandibles. The eggs are not laid on the trunk above one meter height from ground level. The frequency of egg laying per day per female varies from 0 to 11eggs with the mean egg deposition frequency of 2.90 eggs per female. Initially the larvae feed under the bark and then enter the centre of the trunk. Pupation takes place below the bark. The egg, larval and pupal periods last for 4 to 5, 240 to 310 and 23 to 39 days, respectively. The adults emerge from April to May (Saikia et al. 2011;Singh & Singh 2012 Distribution: India (Western to eastern Himalayan range), Pakistan (north), Afghanistan, Baluchistan, Iran, Turkmenistan, Turkistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan (south), Quetta, Tibet in mountainous areas up to an altitude of 2000m. In Arunachal Pradesh, it was reported by Sengupta & Sengupta 1981. Biology: A. sarta requires two years to complete a generation (Ahmad et al. 1977;Vorontsov 1995). Adults usually leave their pupal cells in April or the beginning of May. Females lay eggs in slit-like niches in the bark of the trunk and the larger branches. A single female may lay a total of 240-270 eggs. The larvae start feeding and construct tunnels deep into the wood. At the end of July, grubs pupate in cells and about two weeks later adults appear. Adults stay in the pupation cells over winter and emerge the following spring. term survey covering maximum habitats over different seasons would be required at the earliest to explore and document the entomological wealth of the region. All the cerambycids are primary pests of forest trees and timber products which cause huge economic losses in the region. Considering the lack of studies on the wood borer insects in Arunachal Pradesh, present findings have much significant for understanding insect biodiversity in the region and providing baseline data for further research programmes.

Long-horned Beetles of Arunachal Pradesh
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