Tiger Beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Cicindelinae) of the Andaman and Nicobar Archipelagoes, India, with the Description of Cylindera ( Ifasina) Dartista, New Species, from Great Nicobar Island

Abstract

Twelve tiger beetle taxa are reported from the Andaman and Nicobar Archipelagoes, Union Territories, India. These are listed according to their current classification within the Carabidae: Cicindelinae under tribes Collyrini or Cicindelini, along with comments about their taxonomy, recognition, habitats, and distribution. Cylindera (Ifasina) dartista, new species, known only from Great Nicobar Island, India, is described and compared to related taxa. Cylindera (Ifasina) discreta nicobarica (Mandl, 1970), also endemic to Great Nicobar Island, India, is distinguished from related species found elsewhere in Southeast Asia. In addition to these two endemic Cylindera (Ifasina) taxa, Neocollyris (Orthocollyris) crassicornis andamana (Bates, 1878) and Neocollyris (Neocollyris) schaumi (W. Horn, 1892) are considered endemic to the Andaman and Nicobar Archipelagoes. Except for these four endemic taxa, all but two of the remaining eight taxa comprising the tiger beetle fauna of these archipelagoes have a wider distribution in South Asia and Southeast Asia. These include six species: Neocollyris (Orthocollyris) subclavata (Chaudoir, 1860); Neocollyris (Leptocollyris) variicornis (Chaudoir, 1864); Calochroa flavomaculata (Hope, 1831); Calochroa sexpunctata (Fabricius, 1775); Callytron limosum (Saunders, 1836); Hypaetha biramosa (Fabricius, 1781). Two taxa have more limited ranges. Cosmodela diehli Wiesner, 1997, previously known only from Simular Island off the southwestern coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, is now documented from Great Nicobar Island, India. This species is very similar to Cosmodela didyma (Dejean, 1825) from Sumatra and Java, also reported from Little and Great Nicobar Islands. It is possible C. didyma records from the Nicobars are based on misidentified C. diehli. Examination of the Nicobar Archipelago specimens identified as C. didyma will be necessary to determine whether both species co-occur on the islands, or whether all the specimens are, in fact, C. diehli.