Taxonomic studies on some short snout entimine weevils of India and adjacent countries
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Date
2009
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Abstract
The broad nosed weevils of the subfamily, Entiminae with more than 12000
species described, are the largest group of weevils and they are distributed world
wide. Except for some larger genera like Myllocerus, Tanymecus, Dereodus,
Lepropus, Episomus and Indomias, the entimines are poorly studied. The genera
namely Atmetonychus, Blosyrodes, Blosyrus, Cratopus, Cyrtozemia, Dermatoxenus,
Drepanoderes, Geotragus, Lepidospyris, Leptomias, Pachynotus, Phacephorus and
Ptochus are taxonomically important in India and the adjacent countries. Some of
these are injurious to crops and other economically important plants. The only
substantial contribution on these had come from Marshall (1916). The available
information is limited and is lacking in essential diagnostics especially genitalia and
elytral vestiture. Even in those species where detailed descriptions are available these
lacking in morphometrics and need for more material is explicit. Hence, the present
study was undertaken with objectives of survey and collection, study of the
morphological characters and consolidation of the earlier findings, description and
redescription of species, and revision of concepts of the genera considering the new
information, and formulation of key for the identification of the species by modifying
the existing ones. The present study was based on the collections from NPC, New
Delhi and Panjab University, Chandigarh. Limited collections were made through
surveys from Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and parts of Tamil
Nadu. Approximately 307 specimens had been studied belonging to 13 genera and 43
species including five new species. All these genera and 38 previously known
species had been redescribed fortifying with morphometric ratios, enlarged samples
including type specimens of few species. Five new species namely marshalli,
thompsoni under Blosyrus, mayarami, kumaonensis under Pachynotus and shanensis
under Geotragus had been described. All the known species of these genera had been
reviewed and catalogued and these covered a total of 463 species along with the
synonyms and revisionary details. The distribution of all these species had been
documented and characterized by taking into account the up to date literature.
Available information on the economic importance have been compiled and
taxonomic notes given. The generic and species descriptions had been updated
through addition of measurements, description of elytral vestiture and male and
female genitalic characters.
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