Contributions to the studies on Prioninae (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) of Central India with checklist of Indian species.

The present paper presents the information on genital and morphological character of 4 species belonging to 4 genera and 3 tribes of the subfamily Prioninae (Cerambycidae) so far reported from Central India. Except Prionomma (Prionomma) atratum (Gmelin), other 3 species are newly recorded from Central Indian landscape. First consolidated checklist of Indian Prioninae including 47 species belonging to 23 genera and 9 tribes has also been provided. The beetles of Prioninae subfamily belonging to the Cerambycidae family are mostly borers, whose larvae feed on rotting wood or roots. Few members of the subfamily make tunnel freely in the soil alongside the roots of trees. These beetles fall in the group of heartwood borers and thus reflecting its immense importance in the timber economy of the country. They are cosmopolitan in distribution and include many of the largest species of the Coleoptera order. Prioninae may be readily recognized by the prothoracic possession of the sharp lateral margins. The Indian genera generally bear coarsely facetted eyes, and the species, more or less, are restricted in their range of coloration between black and lighter shades of brown which verge on red and yellow. In 2012, Norbert Delahaye has published a world catalogue of prioninae. Till date, the most comprehensive information on Indian Prioninae is provided in 'The Fauna of British India including Ceylon and Burma' by Gahan in 1906. Subsequently, Stebbing (1914) and Beeson (1941) published literatures on biology and ecology of these beetles. Except few scattered publications, this group is poorly represented in recent literatures. In 2005, Sen et al. reported a prioninae species from Goa. Prabhakar et al. (2012) published new record of a prioninae species from India including its biology and natural history. Chandra et al. (2010) published the only literature which includes some information on the prioninae of Central India. The present communication aims at discussing detailed taxonomy of the prioninae species collected during faunal surveys in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh by Zoological Survey of India. Moreover, this paper provides a consolidated checklist of the subfamily prioninae recorded in India after Norbert Delahaye (2012) 'World Catalogue of Prioninae'.