Journal of Global Resources

Volume 5 (01)January 2019
ISSN: 2395-3160 (Print), 2455-2445 (Online)

Page 116-122

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ECOLOGY AND PRESENT TAXONOMIC STATUS OF BEETLES IN SHEKHAWATI REGION
OF RAJASTHAN
Madhu Chaudhary
Associate Professor, Department of Zoology
Govt. Lohia P.G. College, Churu (Rajasthan) India
Abstract: The order Coleoptera is a group of beetles and weevils is the largest group ofcomparable units among all animals. The members of this order vary in colour, size, structure
and adaptations to a wide range of habitats and are cosmopolitan in distribution. The majorities
of beetles are terrestrial, herbivores; many are predatory, frequently with highly specialized hostranges or life cycles. They are economically important in terms of both beneficiary as well as
deleterious impacts which they have on ecosystem dynamics and environmental health andhygiene, including agriculture and animal husbandry. The present study is based on collectionof different coleopteran genera from Shekhawati region of Rajasthan. Shekhawati region is thepart of northern Rajasthan and desert area, where rain is the main source of fresh water, sorainy season (months from July to Sept.) are favourable for floral growth and also favourable forfauna because of rich flora most beetles are harmless and were collected by hand. In thepresent study 37 genera from 11 families are recorded. Nine genera from Scarabaeidae(scarabs, dung beetles), 12 genera from Tenebrionidae (Darkling beetles), 2 genera fromGeotrupidae, 2 genera from Cerambycidae (long horned beetles), 1 genera from Buprestidae(Metallic wood borers, Jewel beetles), 4 genera from Hydrophilidae (Water scavenger beetles),2 genera from Dytiscidae (Predacious diving beetles, water beetles), 2 genera fromCoccinellidae (Lady bird beetles), 1 genera from Bruchidae, 1 genera from Elateridae (clickbeetles), 1 genera from Melolonthidae (cockchafers) are recorded. In which one genera of
Scarabaeidae, two genera of Tenebrionidae, one genera of Hydrophilidae, one genera ofElateridae and one genera of Cerambycidae are not identified.
Key words: Ecology, Taxonomy, Beetles, Environmental, Shekhawati region.
Introduction
The word "coleoptera" is derived from the Greek koleos, meaning "sheath"; and pteron,meaning "wing", thus "sheathed wing", because most beetles have two pairs of wings, the front
pair, the "elytra", being hardened and thickened into a sheath-like, or shell-like, protection for
the rear pair, and for the rear part of the beetle's body. The superficial consistency of mostbeetles morphology, in particular their possession of elytra, has long suggested that theColeoptera are monophyletic, but growing evidence indicates this is unjustified, there beingarguments, for example, in favour of allocating the current suborder Adephaga their own order,or very likely even more than one.
The Coleoptera include more species than any other order, constituting almost 25
percent of all known types of animal life-forms. About 40 percent of all described insect species
are beetles (about 400,000 species), and new species are discovered frequently. Someestimates put the total number of species, described and undescribed, at as high as 100 million,
but a figure of one million is more widely accepted. The largest taxonomic family is commonly
thought to be the Curculionidae (the weevils or snout beetles), but recently
the Staphylinidae (the rove beetles) have claimed this title.

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The diversity of beetles is very wide. They are found in all major habitats, except marine
and the Polar Regions. They have many classes of ecological effects; particular species areadapted to practically every kind of diet. Some are no specialist detritus feeders, breaking down
animal and plant debris; some feed on particular kinds of carrion such as flesh or hide; somefeed on wastes such as dung; some feed on fungi, some on particular species of plants, others
on a wide range of plants. Some are generalist pollen, flower and fruit eaters. Some arepredatory, usually on other invertebrates; some are parasites or parasitoids. Many of the
predatory species are important controls of agricultural pests. For example, beetles in thefamily Coccinellidae ("ladybirds" or "ladybugs") consume aphids, scale insects, thrips, and otherplant-sucking insects that damage crops.
Conversely, beetles are prey of various invertebrates and vertebrates, including insects,fish, reptiles, birds, and mammals. The Coleoptera are not generally serious pests, but they
include agricultural and industrial pests, such as the Colorado potato beetle(Leptinotarsa
decemlineata), the boll weevil( Anthonomus grandis), the red flour beetle (Triboliumcastaneum), and the mungbean or cowpea beetle (Callosobruchus maculatus). Also included isthe death-watch beetle, the larvae of which can cause serious structural damage to buildings byboring into the timbers. Species in the Coleoptera have a hard exoskeleton, particularly on theirforewings (elytra, singular elytron). These elytra distinguish beetles from most other insect
species, except for the Dermaptera. The hemelytra of Heteroptera have a slight resemblance,
but are not the same and their function is largely different.
Like all armoured insects, beetles' exoskeletons comprise numerous platescalled sclerites, some fused, and some separated by thin sutures. This combines armoreddefenses with maintaining flexibility. The general anatomy of a beetle is superficially uniform,
but specific organs and appendages may vary greatly in appearance and function between themany families in the order, and even more so between the suborders (such as Adephaga) thatcurrently seem increasingly to be separate orders in their own right. All insects' bodies aredivided into three sections: the head, the thorax, and the abdomen, and the Coleoptera are noexception. Their internal morphology and physiology also resemble those of other insects.
Beetles are endopterygotes; they undergo complete metamorphosis, a biological process bywhich an animal physically develops after a birth or hatching, undergoing a series ofconspicuous and relatively abrupt changes in its body structure. Males may fight for females invarious ways, and such species tend to display marked sexual dimorphism.
Distribution and diversity
Beetles are by far the largest order of insects, with 350,000–400,000 species in four suborders(Adephaga, Archostemata, Myxophaga, and Polyphaga), making up about 40 percent of all
insect species described, and about 30 percent of all animals. Though classification at thefamily level is a bit unstable, about 500 families and subfamilies are recognized. One of the first
proposed estimates of the total number of beetle species on the planet is based on field datarather than on catalog numbers. The technique used for this original estimate, possibly as manyas 12 million species, was criticized, and was later revised, with estimates of 850,000–4,000,000 species proposed. Some 70–95 percent of all beetle species, depending on theestimate, remain undescribed. The beetle fauna is not equally well known in all parts of theworld. For example, the known beetle diversity of Australia is estimated at 23,000 species in3265 genera and 121 families. This is slightly lower than reported for North America, a landmass of similar size with 25,160 species in 3526 genera and 129 families. While otherpredictions show there could be as many as 28,000 species in North America, including those117

currently undescribed, a realistic estimate of the little-studied Australian beetle fauna's true
diversity could vary from 80,000 to 100,000.
Patterns of beetle diversity can be used to illustrate factors that have led to the successof the group as a whole. Based on estimates for all 165 families, more than 358,000 species ofbeetles have been described and are considered valid. Most species (about 62 percent) are in
six extremely diverse families, each with at least 20,000 described species: Curculionidae,Staphylinidae, Chrysomelidae, Carabidae, Scarabaeidae and Cerambycidae. The smallerfamilies account for 22 percent of the total species – 127 families with fewer than 1000
described species and 29 families with 1000–6000 described species. So, the success ofbeetles as a whole is driven not only by several extremely diverse lineages, but also by a highnumber of moderately successful lineages. The patterns seen today indicate beetles went
through a massive adaptive radiation early in their evolutionary history, with many of theresulting lineages flourishing through hundreds of millions of years to the present. The adaptive
radiation of angiosperms helped drive the diversification of beetles, as four of the six megadiverse families of beetles are primarily angiosperm-feeders: Curculionidae, Chrysomelidae,Scarabaeidae, and Cerambycidae. However, even without the phytophagous groups, lineagesof predators, scavengers, and fungivores are tremendously successful. Coleoptera are found innearly all natural habitats, including freshwater and marine habitats, everywhere vegetative
foliage is found, from trees and their bark to flowers, leaves, and underground near roots- eveninside plants in galls, in every plant tissue, including dead or decaying ones.
Taxonomy
About 450,000 species of beetles occur – representing about 40 percent of all known insects.
Such a large number of species poses special problems for classification, with some families
consisting of thousands of species and needing further division into subfamilies and tribes. Thisimmense number of species allegedly led evolutionary biologist J. B. S. Haldane to quip, whensome theologians asked him what could be inferred about the mind of the Creator from theworks of His Creation, that God displayed "an inordinate fondness for beetles".
 The Polyphaga are the largest suborder, containing more than 300,000 described species
in more than 170 families, including rove beetles (Staphylinidae), scarab beetles(Scarabaeidae), blister beetles (Meloidae), stag beetles (Lucanidae) and true weevils(Curculionidae). These beetles can be identified by the presence of cervical sclerites(hardened parts of the head used as points of attachment for muscles) absent in theirsuborders.
 The Adephaga contain about 10 families of largely predatory beetles, includes groundbeetles (Carabidae), Dytiscidae and whirligig beetles (Gyrinidae). In these beetles, thetestes are tubular and the first abdominal sternum (a plate of the exoskeleton) is divided by
the hind coxae (the basal joints of the beetle's legs).
 The Archostemata contain four families of mainly wood-eating beetles, including reticulated
beetles (Cupedidae) and the telephone-pole beetle.
 The Myxophaga contain about 100 described species in four families, mostly very small,
including Hydroscaphidae and the genus Sphaerius.
Geography and Climatic Conditions
Shekhawati is a semi-arid historical region located in the northeast part of Rajasthan, India. It
mostly encompasses the administrative districts of Jhunjhunu and Sikar. However, some partsof the Churu and Nagaur districts are also considered in the Shekawati region.

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Shekhawati in a desert area of Rajasthan and has special importance in the history ofIndia. The natural climatic conditions in the region are very harsh and extreme. The temperature
ranges from sub-zero Celsius in winter to more than 50°C in summer. The summer brings hot
waves of air called loo. Annual rainfall is very low, around 450 to 600 mm. The ground water is
as deep as 200 feet, and in places water is hard and salty

Material and Methods
For the collection of beetles periodic visits were done in whole region and following procedure
were taken to collect to collect beetles.
1. Used simple light trapping method in rainy season.
2. In summer used to do early morning walks because some beetles, which are going tohide under the soil for prevention from heat and predators, can be trapped easily.
3. Net also used to collect beetles.
Many of the specimens were collected in the rainy season, because in desert areas
fauna is diverse and rich in rainy season. So July to September, are more suitable for collection
due to favourable environmental conditions. The beetles were killed using a Cyanide bottle orby using chloroform. Most were then pinned and preserved in sterilized wooden boxes
119naphthalene balls were also used for preservation. Few specimens preserved in 70 percent
Alcohol mixed with small amount of acetic acid and Glycerine for diagnostic character study.
For taxonomic status used key from E.O. Essig book. For identification help were also takenfrom the institutes: Agriculture Research institute, Fatehapur; Department of Entomology,
Rajasthan College of Agriculture, MPUAT, Udaipur.
Result and Discussion
In the present investigation 37 species of beetles were identified. The checklist of beetles isgiven in table 1. Few species were also recorded by Kazmi and Rammamurthy in Shekhawati
region are as follows.
Table 1: Checklist of beetles collected from the field area
Specimen No.

FamilySub-Family

GenusSpecies12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637

Scarabaeidae
Tenebrionidae
Tenebrionidae
Tenebrionidae
Tenebrionidae
Geotrupidae
Tenebrionidae
Scarabaeidae
Scarabaeidae
Scarabaeidae
Cerambycidae
Tenebrionidae
Buprestidae
Tenebrionidae
Scarabaeidae
Tenebrionidae
Scarabaeidae
Hydrophilidae
Scarabaeidae
Scarabaeidae
Geotrupidae
Cerambycidae
Scarabaeidae
Coccinellidae
Bruchidae
Elateridae
Melolonthidae
Tenebrionidae
Hydrophilidae
Hydrophilidae
Hydrophilidae
Dytiscidae
Dytiscidae
Tenebrionidae
TenebrionidaeTenebrionidae
Coccinellidae

Scarabaeinae
Pimeliinae
Amphidorini
Amphidorini
Pimeliinae
Bloboceratinae
Pimeliinae
Coprinae
Rutelinae
Cetoniinae
Cerambycinae
Tenebrioninae
Tenebrioninae
Scarabaeinae
Unidentified
Aphodiinae
Scarabaeinae
Aphodiinae
Geotrupinae
Cerambycinae
Scarabaeinae-Heliocopris
Craniotus
Dleodes(Blaptylis)
Unidentified
Eusottus
Bolbocerus
Rhytinota
Catharsius
Rhyniptia
Spilophorus
Monochamus
Gonocephalum
Starnocera
Blaps
Onthophagus
Unidentified
Aphodius
Unidentified
Onthophagus
Unidentified
Geotrupes
Unidentified
Onthophagus
Coccinella
Callosobruchus
Unidentified
Holotrichia
Tribolium
Berosus
Berosus
Berosus
Erectes
Cybister
Pimelia
Pimelia
OxycaraHenosepilachna

Sp.
Sp.
Sp.
Unidentified
Sp.
Sp.
Sp.
Sp.
IndicaMoculatus
Ps.
Sp.
Unidentified
Orientalis
Sp.
Unidentified
Sp.
Unidentified
Sp.
Unidentified
Sp.
Unidentified
Sp.
Septempunctata
Chinensis
Unidentified
Consanguinea
Castaneum
Nigriceps
Pulchellus
Fairmairizait
Sticticus
Tripunctatus
Inexpectata
IndicaTharensis
Vigintioctopuntata

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Table 2: Number of genera according to families
S. No.

FamilyNumber of genera

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.

Scarabaeidae (Scarab beetles, Dung rollers)
Tenebrionidae (Darkling beetles)
Geotrupidae
Cerambycidae (Long horned beetles)
Hydrophilidae (Water scavenger beetles)
Buprestidae (Metallic wood borers, Jewel beetles)
Dytiscidae (Predacious diving beetls, water beetls)
Coccinellidae (Lady bird beetls)
Bruchidae
Elateridae (Click beetles)
Melolonthidae (Cockchafers beetles)

09
1202
02
04
01
02
02
01
01
01

09 genera from 5 sub-families of scarabaeidae [Scarabaeinae (4), Coprinae (1),Rutelinae (1), Cetoniinae (1), Aphodiinae (2) One genera not identified], 12 genera from 3 subfamilies of tenebrionidae [Pimeliinae (5), Amphidorini (2) 1 genera not identified, Tenebrioninae(2), 1 genera unidentified, sub-families of two genera’s are also not identified], 2 genera from 2
sub-families of geotrupidae [Bolboceratinae (1), Geotrupinae (1)], 2 genera from Cerambycidae
in which 1 from Cerambycine sub-family and other unidentified, 1 genera from Buprestidae, 4genera from Hydrophillidae in which one unidentified, 2 genera from Dytiscidae, 2 genera fromCoccinellidae, 1 genera from Bruchidae, 1 unidentified genera from Elateridae, 1 genera fromMelolonthidae are recorded in present study.
o Scarabaeidae:


oTenebrionidae:




oHeliocopris sp.
Catharsius sp.
Rhyniptia indica
Spilophorus maculates
Onthophagus sp.
Aphodius sp.
Onthophagus sp.
Onthophagus sp.
Craniotus sp.
Eleodes (Blaptylis) sp.
Eusattus sp.
Rhytinota sp.
Gonocephalum sp.
Blaps orientalis
Pimelia inexpectata
Pimelia indica
oxycara tharensis
Triboliom Castaneum

Geotrupidae:Bolbocerus sp.
Geotrupes sp.

oCerambycidae:

oHydrophilidae:

oMonochamus sp.
Berosus nigriceps
Berosus pulchellus
Berosus faimairizait

Buprestidae:
Sternocera sp.

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oDytiscidae:

oErectes sticticus
Cybister tripunctatus

Coccinellidae:Coccinella septempunctata
Henosepilachna vigintioctopuntata

Callosobruchus chinensis

oBruchidae:

oMelolonthidae:
Holotrichia consanguinea

Acknowledgement
The author is thankful to UGC, CRO, Bhopal for providing the financial assistance to conduct
this work.
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