First record of the Long-horned Beetle Apiocephaluslicheneus Gahan from western India (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Lepturinae)

A.B. Mamlayya ¹, G.P. Bhawane ² & HemantV. Ghate ³

¹ Assistant Professor, Department of Zoology, Rayat Shikshan Sanstha’s Balwant College, Vita, Sangli District, Maharashtra 415311, India

² Professor, Department of Zoology, Shivaji University, Kolhapur, Maharashtra 416004, India

³ Retired Associate Professor, Zoology Department, Modern College of Arts Science and Commerce, Shivajinagar, Pune, Maharashtra 411005, India

¹ mamlayya@rediffmail.com, ² drgpbhawane@rediffmail.com,³ hemantghate@gmail.com (corresponding author)

doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o3612.5494-8 | ZooBank:urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:D4BD017B-6968-4B48-A8AB-1015B2012948

Editor: Eduard Vives, Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona, Terrassa, Spain. Date of publication: 26 February 2014 (online & print)

Manuscript details: Ms # o3612 | Received 03 May 2013 | Final received 09 January 2014 | Finally accepted 10 February 2014

Citation: Mamlayya, A.B., G.P. Bhawane & H.V. Ghate (2014).First record of the Long-horned Beetle Apiocephalus licheneus Gahan from western India (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae:Lepturinae). Journal of Threatened Taxa 6(2): 5494–5498; http://dx.doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o3612.5494-8

Copyright: © Mamlayya et al. 2014. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 UnportedLicense. JoTT allows unrestricted use of this article in any medium, reproduction and distribution by providing adequate credit to the authors and the source of publication.

Funding: UGC, CSIR and BCUD Pune University.

Competing Interest: The authors declare no competing interests.

Acknowledgements: HVG is grateful to the authorities of Modern College for facilities and encouragement and to BCUD, University of Pune, for financial support on Cerambycidaeduring 2007 and 2008 (BCUD/578/32-SC). Authors are also very grateful Dr. Eduard Vives (Spain) for all the help during preparation of this short note, for comparing and commenting on mandibles to settle the identity of the subfamily, and for providing image of theGahan’s type, Image 15 of this note and other images as well as for constant support and encouragement to HVG. Other authors (AM and BG) are grateful to the Authorities of ShivajiUniversity for facilities and encouragement; we are also thankful to CSIR and to UGC SAP DRS Phase I, New Delhi for financial support during the study. Special thanks are to Biodiversity Heritage Library people who are making a lot of important literature available freely and also to people who devised Combine ZM photo-stacking software .

For images -- click here

The genus Apiocephaluswas erected by Gahan with the species Apiocephalus punctipennis Gahan, from East Africa (Gahan 1898); subsequently Apiocephalus licheneus was described on the basis of a female collected in Dehradun, India (Gahan 1906). At present only these two species are known under this genus. Apparently,Apiocephalus is very similar to Capnolymma. Gahan (1906) had separated these two genera on the basis of the length of the antennal scape and placed both these genera in the subfamily Lepturinae. Vives (2003) also considered them under Lepturinae with a comment that the genera Capnolymma, Acapnolymma and Apiocephalushave close affinity with Madagascan Lepturinae.

Gahan (1906) has given an adequate description of Apiocephalus licheneus, however no illustrations of this species are available anywhere. Here we give a brief description and good illustrations.

The description given below is based on a female specimen collected in Kolhapur: 29.x.2012; Shivaji University campus, Kolhapur; coll. A.B. Mamlayya; it will be deposited in the museum of the Department of Zoology, Shivaji University, as ‘Ceramb 3’).

Apiocephalus licheneus Gahan, 1906

Description:Colour dark brown, body entirely pubescent with white or grayish-white, black and brownish pubescence. White pubescence forms a pattern, in distal 1/4^th of the elytra, which appears similar to the growth of lichen on dark wood and this is perhaps the reason why Gahan named the species licheneus; though he himself did not provide its etymology (Image 1). The prothorax, metasternum, metepisterna and distal sternitesare also covered with a dense pubescence. The first two sternites are shining dark brown to black in the median region but have grayish and dark brown pubescence on their lateral sides.

Head elongate, slightly sloping in front of eyes, gradually narrowed behind the eyes producing a noticeable ‘neck’; mandibles prominent, curved, sharply pointed; front rugulose, shining, with sparse white pubescence at places. Clypeus narrow, transverse; maxillary and labial palpimoderately long, dark brown and covered with sparse pubescence (Image 2); eyes large, coarsely facetted, very feebly or shallowly emarginated behind antennal tubercles; head width maximum at eye level; genaemoderately long (Image3). Antennae inserted at a distance in front of the eyes, antennal tubercles moderately raised and the area between them concave and coarsely punctate; a short median sulcus between antennal tubercles; antennae as long as body, scape moderately long, slightly curved and gradually thickened from base towards apex, finely punctate, with a distinct wavy ring of whitish pubescence at the distal tip (Image 4); all antennomeres covered with short, fine,gray pubescence. Vertex with two shallow, rounded, depressions between the eyes laterally, behind each of this depression there is a small tubercle, one on either side between the eyes (see Image 3). Vertex and neck covered with bronzy or brownish pubescence bordered with a narrow line of whitish pubescence, just behind the eyes. The gular area is strongly punctate, with very sparse pubescence; underside of neck with a few fine, transverse folds; overall gular area and underside of neck dark brown and shining.

Prothorax very broad at base, narrowed towards apex, broadest at the level of lateral tubercles, its anterior margin slightly raised, behind which there is a shallow transverse sulcus all around; the disc of prothoraxas well as lateral spines covered densely with white, silky pubescence; disc ofprothorax is provided with four prominent lateral tubercles- an anterior pair and a posterior pair: anterior pair consists of smaller more or less rounded, blunt tubercles while the posterior pair is of larger, blunt, but distinctly conical tubercles; the area in between tubercles flattish in the middle but somewhat concave laterally; a distinct black cross mark is present at the base which is actually due to fine carinaethat are devoid of pubescence. Laterally the prothoraxhas a distinct conical, tubercular spine with a broad base (Images 5, 6). Prosternumsomewhat sunken, with sparse pubescence at the side, prosternalprocess densely covered with pubescence, elevated almost to the level of globular coxae and somewhat tubercle-like distally (Image 7); mesosternum considerably depressed relatively, much below the level of pro- and mesocoxae;mesosternal process broad, tongue-like and elevated between mesocoxae; metasternumof moderate length, densely covered with white pubescence, its anteromedian region produced like a tongue to meet the mesosternal process, a deep median sulcus prominent in the distal half of metasternum and a distinct transverse sulcus at base; metepisternum also covered with grayish pubescence (Image 8).

All legs moderately long, covered with grayishand blackish pubescence, coxae prominent, femora fusiform-clavate and show a typical wavy ring of white and gray pubescence at the tip (Image 9); tibia more pubescent; in hind legs first tarsal segment long - equal to second and third put together; hind-claws divergent.

Elytra much broad at the base than prothorax, coarsely punctate in basal 1/4^th and without any costae, covered with patches of pubescence that produce light brown or blackish patches at places. A pattern of white, silky, pubescence present in the apical 1/4^th of elytra (Image 10). Elytra almost parallel sided, except in the apical 1/3^rd region, where these are narrowed, their apices moderately truncate; a projecting tuft of pubescence present at each of the outer angles, apparently giving a false impression of anemarginate elytra (Images 11, 12), as pointed out by Gahan (1906).

Abdominal segments dark brown, minutely punctured and partly covered with long gray pubescence ventrally. First two abdominal ventritesshining and less pubescent in the middle while the remaining with prominent, long pubescence all over (Image 14).

Discussion: It appears that Apiocephalus licheneus Gahan is a very rare beetle, as there are no published records of it being collected anywhere in India (or elsewhere) since the original collection. This may be because there are no extensive surveys for Cerambycidae, and because these beetles are a difficult group taxonomically. The only other record is of the host plant and emergence period of this species by Beeson (verbatim: “beetles occur in September–October and January–February, host plant Buchanania latifolia Roxb.”), who also studied larva and pupa (Beeson 1941). It is possible that this species is endemic to India or Indian subcontinent.

There is a recent suggestion that Apiocephalus should now be placed in the subfamily Dorcasominae, Tribe Dorcasomini Lacordaire(Ozdikmen 2008); however, the mandibles of Apiocephalus possess a distinct molar plate at the base (Image 15), which is typical in Lepturinaemembers, and this fact has been verified by Dr.Eduard Vives (pers. comm. June 2013, Barcelona, Spain). Thus we firmly place Apiocephalus in Lepturinaeagain rather than accepting its transfer to Dorcasominae.

References

Beeson, C.F.C. (1941). The Ecology and Control of the Forest Insects of India and Neighbouring Countries. Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh, Dehradun (Indian Reprint 1993), 1007pp.

Gahan, C.J. (1898). Descriptions of new Longicorn Coleoptera from east Africa. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 2(7): 40–59.

Gahan, C.J. (1906). The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon & Burma, Coleoptera - Volume I. Taylor & Francis, London, 329pp.

Ozdikmen, H. (2008). A nomenclatural act: some nomenclatural changes on Palaearctic longhorned beetles (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae). MunisEntomology and Zoology 3(2): 707–715.

Vives, E. (2003). Notes on Lepturinae (IX), new and interestingLepturinae from South East Asia (Coleoptera : Cerambycidae). Les Cahiers Magellanes 31: 1–16.