278 



FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE 



Habitat— Sal Forests of Chota Nagpur and Ganjam. Gahan in Fauna 

 gives Madras, M3^sore, Trivandrum. 



Tree Attacked. 



Ganjam (S. Cox). 



Fig. 190. 



AcaiitliopJiorus SL'rra/icoriiis.OWx. ^. 



Singbhum and Ganjam. {F.B.I.) 



-Sal {Shorea robusta, Gaertn.). Singbhum (mihi) and 



Beetle.— (J Reddish tawny in colour, with the 

 head, basal half of the antennae, and piothorax 

 black or brownish black. 

 Description. Head punctate or granulate 



behind ; eyes large, the 

 space between them rather less than one-third of 

 whole head ; mandibles variable in size and form. 

 In large specimens they are longer than the head, 

 divergent from the base to the middle, and thence 

 gradually incurved to the tip, each armed with two 

 or three strong teeth on the inner side between 

 the middle and the tip ; in small males they are 

 similar in size and form to those of the females. 

 Antennae twelve-jointed, with the joints from the 

 fifth to the eleventh produced each into a strong 

 dentiform process at the apex. Prothorax unevenly 

 convex, glossy in the middle, more or less pubescent 

 near the sides ; front and hind margins fringed 

 with tawny hairs. Elytra for most part coriaceous 

 and dull, but sparsely punctured and glossy near the 

 base ; each with a very closely punctured basal spot. 

 Breast pubescent. 



2 Mandibles not so long, straight from the 

 base to about the middle, incurved at the end, 

 armed with several teeth along the inner edge. 

 Antennae shorter ; last ventral segment longer 

 and rounded at the apex. Length, 53 mm. to 

 92 mm. ; breadth, 17 mm. to 28 mm. (Descr. 

 after Gahan.) 



I first took this beetle in the sal forests in Chota Nagpur (Singbhum), in 

 August 1896. In 1897 I discovered that the insect lived 

 Life History. in the tree, the larvae tunnelling into the bast and 



sapwood. The beetle appeared on the wing early in 

 June, and the egg-laying period for this locality may be taken to be between 

 July and August, and perhaps later. The grubs feed in the tree throughout 

 the remainder of the year from July onwards. The period passed in this 

 stage of their existence has not yet been recorded. In the year 1907 

 Mr. S. Cox forwarded to Dehra specimens of the beetles from Ganjam. 

 They were taken on the wing at night in June, and were sent in connection 

 with a serious attack of longicorn and buprestid borers in the mango plan- 

 tations at Chicacole {vide pp. 218, 297, 369). There was no evidence, 

 however, to show that the AcanthopJiorus had issued from the mango-trees, 

 and the fact of its infesting this tree has not been substantiated. 



