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.

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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).

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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).

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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.

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Kaushik Mallick ¹, Uttaran Bandyopadhyay ¹, Arna Mazumder ¹, Rushati Dey ¹, Angshuman Raha ¹, Abesh Kumar Sanyal ¹, Sandeep Kumar Gupta ², Virendra Prasad Uniyal ², Kailash Chandra ¹

Affiliations
1 Zoological Survey of India, New Alipore, Kolkata - 700053, West Bengal, IN
2 Wildlife Institute of India, Chandrabani, Dehradun - 248001, Uttarakhand, IN

Abstract

The genus Xenortholitha Inoue, 1944 is mainly distributed in the Sino-Japanese and Indian Himalayan Region (IHR). The current communication reports the first distributional record of Xenortholitha falcata Yazaki, 1993 from western Himalaya, India extending its range far westwards from its previously known range in Eastern Nepal. We provide a brief differential diagnosis of the species along with its habitus and male genitalia illustrations.

Keywords

Cidariini, Larentiinae, Lepidoptera Fauna, Range Extension, Xenortholitha.

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