Records of the Zoological Survey of India - A Journal of Indian Zoology

Amitava Majumder ¹, Angshuman Raha ¹, Tushar Kanti Mukherjee ², Kailash Chandra ¹, G. Srinivasan ¹

Affiliations
1 Zoological Survey of India, M Block, New Alipore, Kolkata-700053, IN
2 65A/6, Swinhoe Lane, Kolkata-700042, IN

Abstract

Mantids belong to the Order Mantodea under Superorder Blattopteroidea. They are commonly found in humid climate of tropical region although few species occur in dry habitats of semi desert areas. The activity period of mantis depends on the habitat. In arid and semi-arid regions, mantids are generally active after sunset to avoid desiccation. They are well known as predators of many invertebrates and even smaller vertebrates. Territoriality, inter and intra-specific cannibalism are known in mantids and these may be some of the reasons for the decline of their population in nature. They constitute a natural biological control agent by feeding on other insects and thus play an important role in natural control of beneficial species, pest insects and others species in nature.

Full Text

   

Joyjit Ghosh ¹, Amitava Majumder ¹, Sumana Halder ¹, Devanshu Gupta ¹, Kailash Chandra ¹

Affiliations
1 Zoological Survey of India, Prani Vigyan Bhavan, M-Block, New Alipore, Kolkata-700053, West Bengal, IN

Abstract

The diversified habitats, climatic conditions, available food resources provide a shelter for various insect groups in tropical and sub-tropical regions of Globe. With their highly diverse niche range the beetles in the order Coleoptera represent around 387,100 species globally (Zhang 2011) and are highly diverse so far as their species richness. The scarab beetles belong to family Scarabaeidae under superfamily Scarabaeoidea. The relatively large and stout body, conspicuous colour pattern, elaborate ornamentation and 10 antennal segments with 3-7 segmented club distinguish them from other beetle families. They show an extensive range of assortment in their habitat according to their food preference and life forms. Sometimes dead matters and fungi are chosen as food by them. Often vegetables, fruits, pollens etc. are also preferable food stuff for these beetles. Many of them employed themselves to clean the ground by feeding on detritus matters. More predominantly the beetles belonging to the subfamilies, Scarabaeinae and Aphodiinae are associated with dung. They play important roles in nutrient cycling, soil aeration (Mittal, 1993), regulation of dung breeding dipteran pests (Borenmissza, 1970; Fincher 1981). Being phytophagous the subfamilies namely, Melolonthinae, Euchirinae, Rutelinae, Hoplinae, Dynastinae, Valginae, Cetoniinae and Trichiinae belong to the group Pleurosticti (chafers).

Full Text

   

Bulganin Mitra ¹, Amitava Majumder ¹, Udipta Chakraborti ¹, Priyanka Das ¹, Kaushik Mallick ²

Affiliations
1 Zoological Survey of India, Prani Vigyan Bhavan, M-Block, New Alipore, Kolkata-700053, West Bengal, IN
2 Post Graduate Department of Zoology, Asutosh College, Kolkata-700026, IN

Abstract

The taxonomic study of the family cerambycidae is very poor in Himachal Pradesh. Contributions of Breuning (1937, 1958, 1965), Beeson and Bhatia (1939), Basak and Biswas (1993), Mukhopadhyay (2011), Saha et al. (2013) were enriched the cerambycid fauna of this state. Later, few publications were made on other aspects than taxonomy of cerambycidae by Uniyal and Mathur (1998), Singh, and Verma (1998), Bhargava and Uniyal (2011). Therefore, an attempt has been taken to prepare a consolidated taxonomic account of the cerambycid species reported from the Himachal Pradesh. After consulting all the available literatures on Cerambycidae of India it is enumerate that, 37 species under 27 genera of 17 tribes belonging to 4 subfamilies of Crambycidae were reported from this state.

Full Text

   

Kailash Chandra ¹, Angshuman Raha ¹, Abinash Parida ¹, Amitava Majumder ¹, Prosenjit Dawn ¹, Vijendra Singh ²

Affiliations
1 Zoological Survey of India, Prani Vigyan Bhavan, New Alipore, Kolkata-700 053, IN
2 Kudmura Range, Korba Forest Division, Chhattisgarh Forest Department, Chhattisgarh-495 674, IN

Abstract

The King Cobra, Ophiophagus hannah (Cantor) is rare, but, widespread throughout South and Southeast Asia. It is reported from Bali, Bangladesh, Borneo, Cambodia, China, India, Java, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Sulawesi, Sumatra and Thailand (Iskandar and Colijn, 2002). In India, it has a patchy distribution covering the Western Ghats, Shiwalik and Terai regions of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar, Odisha, West Bengal, North-east India and the Andaman Islands (Das, 2002; Whittaker and Captain, 2004) (Fig. 1).

Full Text

   

Kailash Chandra ¹, Angshuman Raha ¹, Amitava Majumder ¹, Rajendra Prasad Gupta ¹

Affiliations
1 Zoological Survey of India, New Alipore, Kolkata-700 053, IN

Abstract

India falls mainly under the Oriental Region and partly under the Palaearctic Region. It has one of the richest and diverse butterfly faunas with 1,641 species representing more or less 9.50% of the total butterfly species of the world (Varshney 2006). Approximately 10.58% of the butterfly diversity found in India has so far been documented from Central Indian landscape i.e. Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh (Chandra et al., 2007).

Full Text

   

Kailash Chandra ¹, Angshuman Raha ¹, Amitava Majumder ¹, Abinash Parida ¹, Anil Sarsavan ¹

Affiliations
1 Zoological Survey of India, New Alipore, Kolkata-700053, IN

Abstract

The present communication reports the occurrence of Banded Krait for the first time from Guru Ghasidas National Park (GGNP) as well as Koriya district of Chhattisgarh. This also represents the significant north western range extension of the species in Chhattisgarh. While undertaking the faunal survey of Protected Areas of Chhattisgarh, banded krait was sighted at the Amapani beat, Sonhat range (23°35'12.7”, 82°29'20.7”) of Guru Ghasidas National Park at night (10:30 PM) on 23^rd May 2012 (Fig. 1). The snake was observed while it was crossing a narrow road from a paddy field to a water body on the opposite side.

Full Text

   

K. Rajmohana ¹, P. Girish Kumar ², Amitava Majumder ¹

Affiliations
1 Zoological Survey of India, M- Block, New Alipore, Kolkata - 700053, West Bengal, IN
2 Western Ghat Regional Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Kozhikode – 673006, Kerala, IN

Abstract

The sleeping aggregation and mandibular roosting behavior of Antepipona bipustulata (de Saussure 1855) (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Eumeninae) is reported for the first time. The observation gains interest since the knowledge on the bionomics of Antepipona bipustulata is extremely sparse

Keywords

Antepipona Bipustulata, First Report, Hymenoptera, India, Sleeping Aggregation.

Full Text

   

Anindya Naskar ¹, Imran Alam ¹, Amitava Majumder ¹, Gopinathan Maheswaran ¹

Affiliations
1 Zoological Survey of India, M-Block, New Alipore, Kolkata – 700053, West Bengal, IN

Abstract

Of the 271 species of birds recorded previously from the East Kolkata Wetlands (EKW), only 162 species have been sighted continually during the last decade and 109 species become locally extinct, majority of which are water birds. Surveys were conducted in and around EKW to assess the impact of developmental activities on the avian diversity, especially on the recently rediscovered Blue-breasted Quail population. We used Land Use Land Cover analyses to ascertain the recent changes that have happened to the areas around Baruipur wetlands where the quails have been recorded recently and found Build-up areas have increased since 2009 resulting in land use changes for human related activities by potentially threatening whole population of Blue-breasted Quail, which is the largest recorded breeding population of this species from India in recent time. Hence, the study is important for the conservation of the species.

Keywords

Conservation, King Quail, Rediscovery, Threat, Wetlands.

Full Text