Copelatus bacchusi Wewalka, 1981

Jaiswal, Deepa, Shankar, Shiva, Kumar, Devadoss, Madasamy, Karuthapandi & Jadhav, Shrikant, 2024, Morphological and molecular characterization of Copelatus bacchusi Wewalka, 1981 (Insecta: Dytiscidae) from Telangana, India, Records of the Zoological Survey of India 124 (3), pp. 295-299 : 296-298

Copelatus bacchusi Wewalka, 1981 ( Figure 1 )

1981. Copelatus bacchusi Wewalka, Koleopterologische Rundschau , 55: 65–70.

2012. Copelatus bacchusi, Ghosh & Nilsson, Skorvnopparn supplement, 3:13.

2021. Copelatus bacchusi, Shaverdo et al. , Aquatic insects, 42: 179-196.

2022. Copelatus bacchusi, Jiang et al. , Zootaxa , 3: 5124.

Type locality: Haldwani , Uttarakhand, India (29.2166N,

79.5166E)

Material examined: 2♂, 4♀, Bhemuni Paadam Waterfall (17.8364N, 80.0332E) ( Figure 2), Pakhal Wildlife Sanctuary , Warangal, Telangana, India, 12.xi.2022, leg. Jaiswal and Shankar (Reg. FBRC /ZSI/INS/3383) .

Diagnostic characters: Body size- 4.60-5.20mm, Length of anterior border of pronotum to tip of elytra- 4.1-4.4mm, Head length-0.52- 069mm, Head width- 1.34-1.4mm, Pronotum length- 0.72- 0.81mm, Pronotum width- 1.94-

1.98mm, Distance between level of maximum width to tip of elytra- 2.0- 2.3mm, Maximum width of body-

2.0- 2.2mm. Head, Pronotum, Elytra, testaceous, dark to brown. Apex of pronotum acute. Elytra with six complete longitudinal strioles laterally, and one submarginal stria, 1-5 longitudinal strioles started the base of the elytra ends at close to apex. The length of striae varies based on their position. Submarginal stria short. Male genitalia median lobe slender, apex acute, later side weakly sickle-shaped, skewed ventral side.

Parameres C shaped, slender, with tough setation, and apexs narrow.

Distribution: Oriental region ( Bhutan, India [Telangana, West Bengal], Myanmar, Thailand Vietnam); Palaearctic Region ( China, India [Uttarakhand]). ( Ghosh & Nilsson 2012; Shaverdo et al., 2021; Jiang et al., 2022).

Molecular Analysis

The current study contributed the first mt COI sequence of species Copelatus bacchusi to the NCBI database. A total of six sequences of Copelatus have been generated, some closely related (LCO&HCO) sequences were acquired from NCBI and a phylogenetic tree was constructed. C. bacchusi shows the genetic distance of Copelatus mysorensis , C. neelumae , C. bacchusi and C. deccanensis . C. bacchusi shows genetic distances between 11-16% with all the above species. Differs from Copelatus sp. from Madagascar and C. deccanensis by 11%, C. japonicas by 14%, C. neelumae by 13%, C. kammuliensis by 14%, and C. teranishii 14%. C. bacchusi and C. mysorensis have a high genetic difference of 16% ( Table 1, Figure 3 ). The study is aware that closely related species of Copelatus bacchusi sequences are limited for molecular analysis since the relationship of Copelatus bacchusi cannot be calculated satisfactorily level.

Figures

Figure 1. Copelatus bacchusi: Adult habitus: (A) Ventral view, (B) Dorsal view, (C) Elytra, male genitalia, (D) Paramere, (E) Male median lobe. Scale = 1 mm except for the median lobe.

Figure 3. Phylogenetic tree of COI gene with outgroup.