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India is a large country in Asia, and covers the transition zone between the Palaearctic and Indomalayan biogeographic realms, with influences from both. Present in India are members of the genus Andrena, an enormous bee genus distributed predominantly throughout the Holarctic, with the greatest Indian diversity in the Himalayan region due to its Palaearctic influences. Despite early studies in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, there has been almost no work on this group in India during the past century. A revision of type and non-type museum material combined with new collections has produced a revised total of 36 species of Andrena for India, including 11 species reported for the first time as well as the newly described Andrena (Melandrena) kedarnatha Wood & Gautam sp. nov. (northern India and Nepal) and Andrena (Simandrena) tungnatha Wood & Gautam sp. nov. (northern India). The true holotype of A. (Euandrena) communis Smith, 1879 is definitively located. Andrena burkelii Bingham, 1908 is synonymised with A. (Pallandrena) morosa Cameron, 1897. Lectotypes are designated for A. (Euandrena) murreensis Cockerell, 1923 and A. (incertae sedis) comberima beharica Cockerell, 1920. Further comments are made on the status of Andrena taxa described from India for which type material is and is not currently available. Thirty additional Andrena taxa suggested as present in the Indian fauna are excluded as either erroneous or lacking supporting data. These results illustrate the extent to which study of the Indian Andrena fauna has been confused, and provide a more stable taxonomic base for future studies in this country.
The genus Trypheridium Brancucci, 1985 is endemic to the Hindu Kush Himalayan Region, and is currently known from a single species, T. nuristanicum (Wittmer, 1956). Here, the genus is reviewed, T. nuristanicum nom. emend. is re-described and T. kashmiricum sp. nov. is described from Kashmir Himalayan Region of India. Descriptions, diagnoses, high quality images, distribution maps and identification keys are presented. The morphology and distribution of Trypheridium are discussed and compared with those of the closely related genus Trypherus LeConte, 1851.
The genus Cheilosia (Diptera: Syrphidae: Rhingiini) of Nepal is reviewed. We recorded 37 species of Cheilosia, of which 29 species are described here. Twenty-six of the new species are classified to a subgenus: Cheilosia (Cheilosia) angusta sp. nov., C. (C.) falcata sp. nov., C. (C.) hauseri sp. nov., C. (C.) maculata sp. nov., C. (C.) pica sp. nov., C. (C.) pilivena sp. nov., C. (C.) spinosa sp. nov., C. (C.) spuria sp. nov., C. (C.) weiperti sp. nov., C. (Montanocheila) albipicta sp. nov., C. (M.) alpha sp. nov., C. (M.) brevimontana sp. nov., C. (M.) gilva sp. nov., C. (M.) minuscula sp. nov., C. (M.) nigella sp. nov., C. (M.) pernigra sp. nov., C. (M.) picta sp. nov., C. (Floccocheila) collis sp. nov., C. (F.) crassata sp. nov., C. (F.) illustratoides sp. nov., C. (F.) indistincta sp. nov., C. (F.) leucozonoides sp. nov., C. (F.) vellea sp. nov., C. (Eucartosyrphus) procera sp. nov., C. (Pollinocheila) rava sp. nov., and C. (Taeniochilosia) nepalensis sp. nov. The remaining three new species, C. flavigena sp. nov., C. insolita sp. nov., and C. versa sp. nov., are described based on a female only, and are thus not classified to a subgenus. The subgenus Taeniochilosia Oldenberg, 1916 is here re-defined to also include species with a pilose eye in combination with the previously defined characters. Cheilosia nigriventris Barkalov & Cheng, 2004 is herewith placed as junior synonym of Cheilosia erratica Barkalov & Peck, 1997, and the description of the female sex is provided. We provide digital photographs and line drawings to illustrate morphological details of all species, and an identification key to the subgenera and to the species recorded for Nepal. We explored the infrageneric classification of some Nepalese species new to science for which molecular work was possible using mtDNA COI barcode sequences. A maximum likelihood analysis of the assembled COI barcode dataset with multiple representatives of the most speciose Palearctic subgenera of Cheilosia resolved the included seven taxa from Nepal within subgenera Cheilosia s. str. and Montanocheila Barkalov, 2002. The large number of new species of this study highlights the still prevailing incomplete knowledge of this speciose genus in the montane regions of the Palearctic and Oriental realms.
Himalopsyche Banks, 1940 (Trichoptera, Rhyacophilidae) is a genus of caddisflies inhabiting mountain and alpine environments in Central and East Asia and the Nearctic. Of 53 known species, only five species have been described previously in the aquatic larval stage. We perform life stage association using three strategies (GMYC, PTP, and reciprocal monophyly) based on fragments of two molecular markers: the nuclear CAD, and the mitochondrial COI gene. A total of 525 individuals from across the range of Himalopsyche (Himalayas, Hengduan Shan, Tian Shan, South East Asia, Japan, and western North America) was analysed and 32 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) in our dataset delimited. Four distinct larval types of Himalopsyche are uncovered, and these are defined as the phryganea type, japonica type, tibetana type, and gigantea type and a comparative morphological characterisation of the larval types is presented. The larval types differ in a number of traits, most prominently in their gill configuration, as well as in other features such as setal configuration of the pronotum and presence/absence of accessory hooks of the anal prolegs.