Rediscovery of Sastragala heterospila Walker, 1867 (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Acanthosomatidae) from India

Abstract

The genus Sastragala is distributed in the Oriental region, New Guinea and Japan. This genus is represented by 10 species in India of which most of the species were found in North India. In India the bug Sastragala heterospila was first time reported from Punjab in 1867, followed by subsequent reports from Punjab and Nilgiri Hills in 1902, Mysore State and Chikkaballapura in 1918, Tura, Meghalaya in 1919 then after Nilgiris in 1959. The most recent record before the present finding was from Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh in 1981. After three decades, the occurrence of this bug from Tilarinagar, Chandgad, Kolhapur district of Maharashtra in 2014 is a rediscovery from India and first report from Maharashtra. It also reports the new extension range of this species to northwards from Mysore to Chandgad (600 km).