Round-Headed Boreds (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) of Dooars, West Bengal – A Compendium

The longhorn beetles or round headed borers are in their greatest abundance in the tropics. These borers are included within 13 subfamilies that are delineated by their morphological characters, the most primitive being the Prioninae while the rather advanced are Cerambycinae and Lamiinae. Hanks (1999) in his review on the works done during the past 90 years did discuss the informations available only for 81 species. He (op. cit) indicated that the average publication rate is less than one species per year. This paucity of information is reflective of the rarity with which researchers record sufficient detail of the cerambycids. Again, on the other hand, the forests of Dooars in particular are not only rich in animal life forms but also for the wealth of trees. These in turn make an economic return for which silviculture is a regular practice. The quality of such trees (logs) are often assessed by the buyers before bidding. It is needless to mention that the deterioration in the quality is mainly because of the woodborers that usually burrow in the tissues of the woody plants in conditions ranging from alive to moribund to dead and decomposing. However, some species feed within the stems of living herbaceous plants. All such habitat deteriorations other than being natural events are often accentuated because of the plantation practices. Adaptation to such highly variable host plant quality has certainly resulted in a diverse spectrum of cerambycids with tremendous variation in their behaviour and ecology. A sustained management plan therefore demands a thorough and intensive study on these wood borers attacking the trees/timbers/shade trees of tea plantations. The study should involve biodiversity assessment followed by biology. Knowledge on the diversity spectrum along with their associated hosts would essentially form the basic. The work in future days may be extended to biology. Therefore, study on the taxonomic diversity of the cerambycid of Dooars appears imperative in order to develop a sustained management plan against the quality deterioration of the trees/timbers