Melolontha indica Hope, 1831

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 : 212

Melolontha indica Hope, 1831

( Figs. 10 , 22 , 50 , 62 )

Melolontha indica Hope 1831: 23 (type locality: Nepal); Arrow 1913a: 192; Arrow 1946: 31 (distribution); Mittal 1981: 35 – 40 (distribution); Sabatinelli 1992: 616 (catalogue); Mittal 2000: 266 (checklist); Li & Yang 2003: 218 (redescription, lectotype designation), figs. 1 – 13; Bhat et al. 2005: 14 – 15 (distribution); Bezdĕk 2006: 195 (catalogue); Sushil et al. 2006: 338 – 339 (distribution); Chandra & Uniyal 2007: 2821 (distribution); Ahrens et al. 2007: 12 (distribution); Li et al. 2010: 344, fig. 21; Krajčík 2012: 158; Keith & Stalin 2012: 20, pl. 1, figs., 293A–J, pl. 2, 296A–J, pl. 3, (new record, distribution); Pathania ET al. 2015a: 53 (distribution); Pathania et al. 2015b: 131 (distribution); Chandel et al. 2015: 150 (host, distribution); Bezdĕk 2016: 231 (catalogue); Lal & Sharma 2017: 447 – 452 (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 nitidicollis Blanchard 1851: 158 (type locality: Northern India); Dalla Torre 1912: 264 (catalogue); Sabatinelli 1992: 613 (catalogue).

Melolontha nitidicollis: Burmeister 1855: 411 ; Bezdĕk 2006: 196 (catalogue); Li et al. 2010: 345 (as a junior synonym of M. indica ).

Material examined. India, Sikkim: Kopethang, 95 km. from Gangtok, 24.iii.1977, 1♀, leg. T.D. Shoot [ NZSI]; Gangtok , Power , 10.ii.1993, 1♀, leg. S.K. Chatterjee [ NZSI] . India, Meghalaya: Jantia Hilla, Jowai , 16.ix.1988, 1♀, leg. B.D. Srivastava [ NZSI] . India, Arunachal Pradesh: Changlang, Namdhapa National Park , 29.x.2015, 2♀, 31.x.2015, 2♁, leg. A. Majumder [ NZSI] . India, West Bengal: Alipurdwar, Buxa Tiger Reserve, Rajabhatkhawa , 26.x.2017, 2♁, 27.x.2017, 2♀, 28.x.2017, 2♁ 1♀, 30.x.2017, 1♁ 1♀, leg. Ram Singh [ NZSI] . India, Assam: Cacher, Silchar, Poliya Tea Estate , 01.iv.2018, 1♁, leg. Joyjit Ghosh [ NZSI] .

Diagnosis. Refer to species key.

Distribution. India: Arunachal Pradesh (new record), Assam (new record), Jammu and Kashmir ( Bhat et al. 2005), Haryana ( Mittal 1981), Himachal Pradesh ( Chandra & Uniyal 2007; Pathania et al. 2015a, 2015b; Rana et al. 2022 a, 2022b), Meghalaya (new record), Sikkim (new record), and Uttarakhand ( Sushil et al. 2006; Lal & Sharma, 2017); Myanmar ( Arrow 1946), Pakistan (Keith & Stalin 2012), Nepal ( Ahrens et al. 2007), and China ( Bezdĕk 2006).

Host. Potato ( Chandel et al. 2015).

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.