Taxonomic studies on pentatomidae (hemiptera: heteroptera) from north India supplemented with RAPD markers

Abstract

The present research work was undertaken to document the morphotaxonomical and intraspecific variational aspects on the basis of RAPD studies of members of family Pentatomidae from north India. The whole work has been divided into following chapters - Introduction, Review of literature, Material and methods, Observations and Discussion, RAPD studies, General conclusions and scope for further research, Summary, Abbreviations and Literature cited. As many as 24 extensive and intensive collection cum survey tours during different months of the year were conducted during November, 2008 October, 2011 in the extremely varied localities of Northern India. A total of 52 species referable to 36 genera belonging to three subfamilies i.e., Pentatominae, Asopinae and Podopinae were collected and preserved. Subfamily Pentatominae includes 46 species referable to 30 genera, subfamily Asopinae is represented by 5 species under 5 genera, whereas only single species has been included of subfamily Podopinae. Diagnostic characters of the family, three subfamilies, all the included genera and species and various other taxonomical aspects, keys to the subfamilies, genera and species within each genus have also been formulated to clarify the taxonomic status of each taxon. A total number of 23 species have been reported for the first time from North India and 1 species represents a new record from India. New localities from the states of Northern India have been added for several species. Photographic details of adult specimen and various parts of an insect including key characters for identification viz., head, pronotum, metathoracic scent gland, ventral views of male and female abdomen have been illustrated for each species. Besides, the details of external male and female genitalia i.e., genital plate, spermatheca, pygophore, paramere, aedeagus (D.V. and V.V.) with detailed labelling have been included. Dichotomous keys have been prepared for the included taxa incorporating external genitalic characters.