Orthoptera Tetrigoidea: India
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Orthoptera Tetrigoidea
Introduction
The members of the superfamily Tetrigoidea are popularly known as "Grouse-Locusts" These are small to moderate sized orthopternns of variable" colour. They commonly occur in meadows or swamps, or on wet rocks along the sides of streams and pools, while a few are found on or around the crops. Both the adults and immature forms" of grouse-locusts are known to feed on mosses and other lower forms of vegetations. Very little is known about their economic importance.
Tetrigids are readily recognised from other allied superfamily, Acridoidea, by the absence of arolium between the tarsal claws; the anterior and middle tarsi consists of two segments while the posterior tarsi with three segments; the backward extension of pronotum forms a hood-like covering over the body; and elytra short and scale-like.
The classification for Indian Tetrigidae is followed af~er Hancock (1915). He divided the family into six subfamilies,. namely Tripetalcerinae, Batrachidinae, Cladonotinae, Tettiginae, Scelimeninae and Metrodorinae.
Steinmann (1970) adopted the same classification of Hancock (1915), except that for the names Batracbidinae and Tettiginae, which he called Batrachideinae and Tetricinae respectively. The subfamily Tetricinae is now called Tctriginae.
Historical Resume
Westwood (1834) was the first to describe a tetrigid. This was followed by Serville (1839). In 1842, it was de Haan who proposed a synoptical table for these insects to separate them from the other allied groups. Saussure (1861), Walker (1871) studied the collections of Orthoptera which were present in the Geneva Museum and the British Museum respectively. Later on Stal (1873), Bolivar (1887-1918), Brunner von Wattenw•yl (1893), Kirby (1910, 1914) and Hancock (1904¬1915) did a" lot of work on tetrigids. GUnther (1935-1941) and Steinmann (1962-1971) also contributed to the know ledge',on " the group. But nol)ody has worked on Indian tetrigids, except Kirby (1910, 1914), Hancock (1912, 1915), Bolivar (1909, 1918) and Gunther (1938, 1939). Kirby (1914) has describcd"S new genera and 10 new species, besides the already known 23 genera and 73 species. Hancock (1912, 1915) studied the Indian Tetrigidae which was available in the then Imperial Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa,. Bihar (now Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Dclhi) and Indian Museum (now at the Zoo. Surv. India, Calcutta) respectively.
In the later study he has described two new genera and 35 new species besides the other already known species. Fletcher (1921) gave a full list of synonyms and references along with the distribution for the Tetrigidae of India and the adjacent countries. Hebard (1929) studied the South Indian Tetrigids. Gunther (1935-1941) has revised the subfamilies of Tetrigidae except these of Batrachideinae and Tetriginae. Steinmann (1964-1971) has compiled the taxonomical work of the family Tetrigidae in the form of Checklist which gives us a zoogeographical picture of the• species of the world. Grant (1966) has studied the genera of Batrachideinae. Recently Shishodia -(in press) has submitted a paper on the 'Taxonomy and zoogeography of the Tetrigidae of North eastern India' In this paper, 77 species are dealt with, of which 13 species are new, 6 are new records for India, one new genus is proposed and two new synonyms are established.
As far as the world fauna on the group is concerned, several workers like BlackiLh &Blackith (1987), Blackith (1988), Cejchan (1983), De Fault (1987), Gunes (1989), Gunther (1979), Holst (1987), Ingrisch (1983, 1987), Key (1987), Larochelle (1978), Harz (1978, 1988), Liang (1988), Liang &Zheng (1984, 1985), Llorente (1982), Nishida (1979-80), Podgornaja (1976, 1982, 1986), Ortega &Marquez (1989, 1989), Voisin (1979) and Zheng &Liang (1985, 1987) have worked and added numerous species to the world fauna
Studies from Different Environs
The tetrigids are found in almost all the ecosystems in India ranging from the sea-level to the mountains. In general the tetrigids have been collected from allover the country by different survey parties of ZSI for the past so many •years. Recently, Zoological Survey of India has taken up a programme under which detailed state-wise studies are being carried out The tetrigid fauna of the state of Orissa (Shishodia, 1987), and Maharashtra (Shishodia, 1990) are the outcome of such studies.
Estimation of Taxa
Westwood (1834) was the rust to describe the tetrigids, followed by Serville (1839), Haan (1842), Saussure (1861), Walker (1871), StAl (1873), Bolivar (1887-1918), Brunner"(1893), Hancock (1904-1915), Kirby (1910, 1914) and GUnther (1935-1941). But the study on Indian tetrigids was initiated by Walker (1871), Bolivar (1909-1918), Kirby (1910, 1914) and Hancoc~ (1908-1915). As a result of above studies, a total of 988 species distributed under 195 genera were recorded from all over the world (Steinmann, 1971). Of these, 122 species under 35 genera are found in India. Recently, Shishodia (in press) has described 13 more species and a new genus, Ulus making atotal of 135 species and 36 genera from India.
Expertise India
In ZSI
M. S. Shishodia, Zoological Survey of India, M-Block, New Alipur, Calcutta 700 053.
Elsewhere
S. Y. Paranjape, Department of Zoology, University of Pone, Pone (Maharashtra).
Abroad
D. K. McE. Kevan, Professor Emeritus, Lyman entomological Museum an~ Research Laboratory, Macdonald Campus, McGill University, 21111 Lakeshore Road, Ste. Anne de bellevue, Quebec, (Canada) H9XICO. H. Steinmann, Zoology Department, Hungarian Natural History Museum, H-I088, Budapest, Baross, H 13 {Hungary). K. H. L. Key, Diviston of Entomology, C.S.I.R.O., G.P.O. Box 1700, Canberra, ACe. T. 2601 (Australia). A. Cejchan, Krajske Museum v Hradci Kralove, Husovo nam. 124-125, Hradee Kralove 1 (Czechoslovakia). L. I. Podgomaya, Zoology Institute of Academy of Science USSR, Leningrad (USSR).
Selected References
Bolivar, I. 1887. Essai sur les Acridiens de la tribu des Tettigidae. Annis. Soc. ent. Belg.,31 : 175-313.
Gunther, K. 1938a. Revision der Acrydiinae I Sectiones Tripetalocerae, Discotettigiae, Tetrigoidea 281 Lopho'tettigiae, Cleostrateae, Bufonidae, Cladonotae, Scelimeniae, Verae. Mitt. zool. Mus. Berl., 23 : 299-437.
GUnther K. 1938b. Revision der Acrydiinae (Orth.) II. Scelimenae spurae. Stettin. ent. Ztg., 99 : 117-148 and 161-230. Gunther, K. 1939. Revision der Acrydiinae (Orthoptera) III. 'Section Amorphopi (Metrodorae Bolivar, 1887 aut.). Abh. Ber. Mus. Tierk. Volkerk. Dresden, 20 (A) Zool. (N. F.) BDI : 16-335.
Hancock, J. L. 1915. Indian Tetriginae. Rec. Indian Mus., 11 : 55-132. "Kirby, W. F. 1914. The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Orthoptera (Acridiidae). ix. + 276 pp. Steinm'ann, H. 1970. Check-list of the Tetricidae (Orthoptera) of the Oriental Faunal Region .. Acta zool. hung., 16 : 215-240.
