Four species of anthidiine bees (Apoidea: Megachilidae) new to India

We report for the first time in India one genus, Bathanthidium Mavromoustakis, and the following four species of the bee tribe Anthidiini (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) based on material deposited at the Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata: Anthidium (Anthidium) florentinum (Fabricius), Anthidium (Proanthidium) qingtaoi Niu and Zhu, Anthidiellum (Pycnanthidium) carinatum (Wu), and Bathanthidium (Manthidium) binghami (Friese). Illustrations of each of these species are provided, together with the information about their distribution, floral association, and diagnostic features.

On the taxonomic validity of Indian ground spiders: V. Genera Megamyrmaekion Reuss, 1834, Sosticus Chamberlin, 1922 and Gaviphosa gen. nov. (Araneae: Gnaphosidae)

Indian Megamyrmaekion and Sosticus species are revised, mostly based on the type material available in the National Zoological Collection, Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata. The following new synonymies are recognised: Megamyrmaekion ashae syn. nov. is synonymised with Megamyrmaekion caudatum Reuss, 1834, Megamyrmaekion kajalae syn. nov. with Drassodes luridus (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1874), Sosticus jabalpurensis syn. nov. and Sosticus sundargarhensis syn. nov., both with the liocranid species Sphingius barkudensis Gravely, 1931 and Sosticus poonaensis syn. nov. with the liocranid species Sphingius caniceps Simon, 1906. The following new combinations are recognised: Poecilochroa jodhpurense (Gajbe, 1993) comb. nov., ex. Megamyrmaekion, Urozelotes pawani (Gajbe, 1993) comb. nov., Sphingius dherikanalensis (Gajbe, 1979) comb. nov., Sphingius nainitalensis (Gajbe, 1979) comb. nov. and Sphingius solanensis (Gajbe, 1979) comb. nov., all ex. Sosticus. All the examined type material are imaged and supplementary descriptions for P. jodhpurense comb. nov. and U. pawani comb. nov. are provided. A new monotypic genus, Gaviphosa Sankaran, 2021 gen. nov. for Gaviphosa kera Sankaran, 2021 gen. et sp. nov., featured by dorsal tibial apophysis is described and illustrated in detail from the southern Western Ghats of India.

The tribe Cnodalonini (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae: Stenochiinae) from Maharashtra with two new records

The tenebrionidae collections of Western Regional Centre, Zoological Survey of India Pune were identified. The species identified as Promethis brevicornis (Westwood, 1842) and Gebienocamaria girardi Masumoto, 1993 and collected from Sangli District and Koyna Wildlife Sanctuary, Satara, respectively constitute a new record for Maharashtra State.

Notes on Indian wolf spiders: I. Genus Evippa Simon, 1882 (Araneae: Lycosidae, Evippinae)

Indian wolf spider species of the genus Evippa Simon, 1882 based on the type material available in the National Zoological Collection, Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata are revised. One new synonymy is recognised: Evippa mandlaensis Gajbe, 2004 syn. nov. is synonymised with Wadicosa fidelis (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1872). All the type material examined are imaged and supplementary descriptions for Evippa shivajii Tikader & Malhotra, 1980, Evippa sohani Tikader & Malhotra, 1980, and Evippa solanensis Tikader & Malhotra, 1980 are provided.

Description of a new species of Zeuxevania Kieffer (Hymenoptera: Evaniidae) from India with a key to species

Taxonomy and diversity of Evaniidae from India have not been studied in depth and hosts of many species are unknown. Out of 31 world genera, only five genera (Evania Fab., Prosevania Kieffer, Szepligetella Bradley, Vernevania Huben & Deans and Zeuxevania Kieffer) are reported from India. Based on the collection deposited in the Hymenoptera section of Zoological Survey of India (National Zoological Collection), here we are describing a new species of the genus Zeuxevania. A new evaniid species Zeuxevania hubeni sp. nov. is described, based on a female specimen collected from Kadaludi Bird Sanctuary, Kerala, India. The new species is compared with Z. curvicarinata (Cameron), as well as Z. kasauliensis (Muzaffer) and a key to Indian species, based on females, is provided. The type specimen is deposited in the National Zoological Collection, Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata, India.

Revision of Indian wolf spiders: I. Genus Arctosa C.L. Koch, 1847 (Araneae: Lycosidae, Tricassinae)

Indian species in the wolf spider genus Arctosa C.L. Koch, 1847 are revised based on the type material deposited in the National Zoological Collection, Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata, Entomology Laboratory, Department of Zoology, University of Calcutta, and Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna. Arctosa tappaensis Gajbe, 2004 is proposed as a junior synonym of Arctosa himalayensis Tikader & Malhotra, 1980. Arctosa quinquedens Dhali, Roy, Sen, Saha & Raychaudhuri, 2012 is provisionally transferred to Ovia Sankaran, Malamel & Sebastian, 2017 and Arctosa mulani (Dyal, 1935) is considered as species inquirenda. Digital images of all the examined type material are presented and supplementary descriptions for A. himalayensis, Arctosa indica Tikader & Malhotra, 1980 and Arctosa khudiensis (Sinha, 1951) are provided.

Checklist of cockroaches (Blattodea) of Kerala, India

Cockroach fauna comprises of 23 valid species under 14 genera. Information on the distribution, synonymy, type locality, type depository are provided. Thirteen species of blattids are added to the fauna of Kerala based on literature survey and study of specimens available in Western Ghat Field Research Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Kozhikode, Kerala. There are four species endemic to Kerala.

A review of the genus Sphingius Thorell, 1890 from India (Araneae: Liocranidae)

Indian species in the genus Sphingius Thorell, 1890 are revised, mostly based on the type material available in the National Zoological Collection, Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata. Sphingius barkudensis Gravely, 1931, S. nilgiriensis Gravely, 1931 and S. paltaensis Biswas & Biswas, 1992 are redescribed. Two new combinations and one new synonymy are recognised: S. longipes Gravely, 1931 is transferred to the cithaeronid genus Inthaeron Platnick, 1991 and S. kambakamensis Gravely, 1931 is transferred to the corinnid genus Cambalida Simon, 1909, while S. delakharae Pawaria, Bodkhe, Kamble, Uniyal & Talwar, 2018 syn. nov. is synonymised with S. barkudensis. Images of all the examined type material are provided.

Record of darkling beetles (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) from Mizoram state, India

The earlier compiled collections of Tenebrionidae held at the North Eastern Regional Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Shillong were identified. The present study reports five species of Tenebrionidae belonging to three genera under three tribes of two subfamilies. The collected and identified Tenebrionid species are reported from the Mizoram state for the first time. The synonyms, distribution and images are also provided.

Studies on Diversity of Spider Fauna in Ahmednagar District, Maharashtra State, India

The order Aranae of class Arachnida has a special value in the studies of ecology as it serves as a biological indicator. The main objective of the present study was to findout the diversity and characteristics of spiders from Ahmednagar district. The study on diversity of spider was conducted from various collection sites such as Kopargaon, Madhi Bk, Kumbhari (Godavari River area), Faria bag, Pimpalgaon Malvi, Dongargan, Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri and Kolhar. The 108-specimen spiders were collected from various sites. The spider specimen collected were photographed, observed, identified and classified with the help of Zoological Survey of India, Pune. Out of 60 specimens identified, belong to 09 families and 18 genera.