AGRYPNINAE ( COLEOPTERA : ELATERIDAE ) OF INDIA : A TAXONOMIC REVIEW AND CHECKLIST

Authorities varied in their opinion regarding limit and definition of various categories such as subtribes, tribes and subfamilies and some treat them as subfamilies of equal rank. For a number of reasons, including purposes of reference and classification, this arrangement has not been satisfactory. Several authors Hyslop (1917), Crowson (1961), Gurjeva (1969, 1974) tried to improve the elaterid classification.


INTRODUCTION
The family popularly known as 'click-beetles' is designated Elateridae under superfamily Elateroidea in the suborder Polyphaga.
The larvae of these primarily nocturnal beetles are known as 'wire wonns', a serious pest of certain crops (Stebbing, 1914).These beetles are found throughout India where extensive vegetative covers are in extant.Some however, have been collected from' sandy beds of hilly, areas (members of the genus Meristhus).
The name of the family Elateridae Leach 1815 was based on the tribe Elaterites Leach, 1815.Elaler Linnaeus, 1758 was the type genus of the tribe Elaterites ... Supra specific definition and limit of this family remains confusing and the classification of this group of beetles has been regarded by some chief authors as 'almost hopeless' (Stibick, 1979).However, several schemes of classification have been forwarded by different authors (Laccordaire 1857, Candeze 1891, Fiautiaux 1941, Schwarz 1906, Stibick 1979).
Authorities varied in their opinion regarding limit and definition of various categories such as subtribes, tribes and subfamilies and some treat them as subfamilies of equal rank.For a number of reasons, including purposes of reference and classification, this arrangement has not been satisfactory.Several authors Hyslop (1917), Crowson (1961), Gurjeva (1969Gurjeva ( , 1974) ) tried to improve the elaterid classification.Stibick (1979) classified Elateridae into 12 subfamilies and 27 tribes, 5 of those tribes are again divided into 20 subtribes; most of the subfamilies of other authors have been ranked as tribe by Stibick (op. cit.).Most of the authors, however, still follow the classification proposed by Fleutiaux (1941).In this classification he classified Elateridae ;nto 21 subfamilies.Von Hayek (1973Hayek ( , 1979) and others have also followed this classification.For the present work, the •category subfamily Agrypninae is used as proposed by Fleutiaux (von Hayek, 1973).*Biosystematics Research Unit, Dept. of Zoology, University of Kalyani, Kalyani 741235.
As far as the subfamily Agrypninae is concerned a nunlber of ne\\' genera and subgenera have been established in recent years.But study of the literatures reveals that in almost all the cases the diagnosis of the old as \\'ell as the ne\\' genera and subgenera are little n'lore than the brief summaries of the most conspicuous features of the type species.In very fe\\' cases the range of variations existing \vithin the genus \\'as indicated or any effort \\'as Inade to define the genus.Attempts to identify these materials \\'ith existing literatures sho\\'s that 111any species cannot be accomodated satisfactorily in any genus \\'hile others can be placed equally \vell in t\\'O or more genera (von Hayek. 1973).
Von Hayek (1973Hayek ( . 1979) carried out extensive \vork and placed all previously described species in appropriate genera.While carrying out her \\'ork, she revie\\'ed and evaluated all previously used characters and discovered new c~aracters and made lise of previously neglected characters.All nominal species included in Agrypninae by previous workers were evaluated and each one was assigned to an appropriate genus.With the help of collections from all over the world, she prepared a new generic classification of the subfamily (1973) which has been universally accepted.
While studying the identified materials present in Zoological Survey of India and identified by various workers it has been observed that \vith the present state of new knowledge the generic status of almost all the species have to be changed and to be assigned to other genera.
The materials which were listed in this list was collected by several foreign workers a long time ago.They did not gave any particular locality of the materials they collected.The published locality of a number of species was either' Indes-Orientales' or 'India' Only in the recent years, the authors have tried to give the exact locality of the species.We have given the exact locality of these species where ever possible, otherwise the published locality have been given.Accordingly this present work has been contemplated to review the genera and species of Agrypninae of India and to provide the current status of such genera and species so far known from India.

HISTORY AND PRESENT STATUS OF THE SPECIES OF AGRYPNINAE FROM INDIA
Fabricius (1775) was the first to describe a click-beetle, Elater juscipes (now under Lanelater) collected by Koenig, a student of Fabricius who collected the material from South India.In 1891 Fabricius again described another species Elater luridus (now under Lanelater).The material came from 'Cor<?mandal India' The last specie's in eighteenth century, Elater tomentosus (now under Lanelater) was also described by Fabricius in 1798.Specimens came from 'India Orienteles' Thus eighteenth century ended with only three species of the subfamily Agrypninae from India.
At the beginning of the twenteeth century in 1900 Candeze described another species, Lacon aequalis (now under Agrypnus, the material was from Kashmir).
In 1902 Schwarz described two new species namely, Lacon oberndorferi (now under Agrypnus, material was from Madras) and Pericus oberndorferi (now under Adelocera, the material was also from Madras).In the same year Fleutiaux described two species namely Agrypnus bartoni (now under Lanelater, material was from Ajmer) and Adelocera robusta (now under the new name Lacon robustus, t.he material was from Himalaya).In 1905, Schwarz described two new spec~es, Lacon niger (now under Agrypnus) and Allotypus duchoni (now under Lacon).Particular locality of these two species is not known.
Then, there was a gap of 'long 27 years when no addition on, the Indian Agrypninae fauna was made.In 1932, Fleutiaux described a new species, Agraeus bhasini (now under Adelocera, material was from Dehradun).In 1933 again he described another new species, Trachylacon santali (now under Adelocera material was from Aiyur).Two years later in 1935 he described another 4 new species viz., Trachylacon doherti, Agraeus feai, Agraeus fry; and Agraeus indicus (all the four species are now under Ade/ocera).
In 1944 Fleutiaux described the species Octocryptus babau/ti from North India.
With a gap of nearly thirty years Ohira and Becker (1973) added two more species to Indian fauna, namely, Meristhus pistrinarius Candeze and M. /ongicol/is Candeze.
Again for almost twenty years there was no taxonomic work on Indian Agrypnid fauna.It was only the last decade of the present century when Dr. L. K. Vats and his students started working under US PL-480 research project and financial assistance from USDA, Washington and Indian Council of Agricultural Research (lCAR), New Delhi.They have published a series of papers on Indian Elateridae.While working on Indian Elateridae they have also added a number of species to Indian Agrypninae.They have described 7 new species of Ade/ocera, 4 new species of Lacon, 40 new species of Agrypnus and 6 new species of Lanelater.
In 1992, Vats and Kashyap described seven new species of the genus Adelocera Latreille from North India, viz., A. crenulatus, A.foveatus, A. imfoveatus, A. mayae, A. morniensis, A. pentagonalus and A. rectangulosus.In the same year they again published four new species of the genus Lacon Caste/nau, namely L. carinatus, L. jlavopi/osus, L. kurukshetrensis and L. nigrofucus.
In the next year in 1893, Vats and Kashyap published six new species of the genus Lanelater Arnett from North India, viz., L. afoveatus, L. dens us, L. glabrosus, L. luceru$, L. scutopentagonus and L. vishvai.
Thus 140 species belonging to 7 genera have so far been recorded fr9m India while more than 1000 species under 19 genera are known from the world (Stibick, 1979).The agrypnid fauna still remains to be fully explored in India.Vats and his students have described more than 100 species of elaterid beetles belonging to different subfamilies of which about •57 belongs to Agrypninae.If intensive surveys are conducted many more new species are expected to be discovered in near future.