Beetle Mania 2022 - Conclusion

Dear Friends,

First, a big thank you to all the participants of Beetle Mania 2022 event. This is the first, and hopefully with your participation and support we can widen interest in and knowledge of these beautiful jewels of nature with more talks, walks and observations.

The 7 day observation event from, 22nd to 28th August, had 173 Observers and 83 identifiers.

1157 beetle observations were submitted from 23 states and union territories.

Karnataka, Uttarakhand, and West Bengal being the top three contributors. A full list of all the represented States and Union Territories is in Annexure 1

83 Identifiers helped to identify 217 species. There are 236 research grade and quite amazingly only two casual observations.

Quality Grade		Observation Count
Research		236
Needs ID		919
Casual		2
Total Result		1157

This entire note is available as a PDF - here

About India's Nature : Beetle Mania 2022

A first event to encourage an interest in Beetles (Order Coleoptera) among nature enthusiasts, students, rural natural historians in India.

Beetle Mania 2022 was organized under the aegis of India's Nature Monsoon Beauty 2022.

Event Outputs

Species and Taxa Observed

In the 7 day observation period a total of 1157 beetles were observed, these included :

108 species identified till Species (395 observations)
41 families are represented out of 114 families known to be present across India

The top 10 observed species are

Rank	Species (Scientific Name)	Common (or General ) Name	Observation Count	Family
1	*Zygogramma bicolorata*	Parthenium Beetle	45	Leaf Beetles (Chrysomelidae)
2	Aulacophora indica	Skeletonizing Leaf and Flea Beetles	35	Leaf Beetles (Chrysomelidae)
3	Hycleus biundulatus		24	Blister Beetles (Meloidae)
4	Coccinella transversalis	Small Transverse Ladybird Beetle	22	Lady Beetles (Coccinellidae)
5	Cheilomenes sexmaculata	Six-spotted Zigzag Ladybird	15	Lady Beetles (Coccinellidae)
6	Clinteria klugi	Flower Scarabs	15	Scarabs (Scarabaeidae)
7	Aspidimorpha furcata	Furcated Tortoise Beetle	13	Lady Beetles (Coccinellidae)
8	Agrilus acutus	Spiral Borer	12	Jewel Beetles (Buprestidae)
9	Coccinella septempunctata	Seven-spotted Lady Beetle	11	Lady Beetles (Coccinellidae)
10	Platycorynus peregrinus		9	Leaf Beetles (Chrysomelidae)

*This list is of the top 10 species Later in Annexure 2 a complete list of beetles identified till Species, and Genus is provided. *

The top 10 families are :

Rank	Family Name (Taxa)	Popular Name	Observation Count
1	Chrysomelidae	Leaf Beetles	341
2	Scarabaeidae	Scarabs	247
3	Coccinellidae	Lady Beetles	120
4	Curculionidae	True Weevils	83
5	Tenebrionidae	Darkling Beetles	46
6	Carabidae	Ground Beetles	44
7	Meloidae	Blister Beetles	44
8	Cerambycidae	Longhorn Beetles	31
9	Lycidae	Net-winged Beetles	24
10	Attelabidae	Leaf-rolling Weevils	16

A complete list of the families is provided in Annexure 3

Some Popular Beetles from the project

Top Identifiers

Thank you to all the identifiers. Without them our Beetle Event would be much less interesting.

The top 10 identifiers of Beetles during the event are

Rank	Identifier	Identifications	Rank
1	@sdjbrown	243	1st
2	@rob-westerduijn	153	2nd
3	@ram_k	106	DNQ
4	@borisb	84	3rd
5	@malacoderm	41
6	@herman83	23
7	@ambytbfl	22
8	@beetlemaniac	18
9	@nimithatr	18
10	@stegobups	16

The top 3 identifiers would receive a beetle related gift, while all who made 50 or more identifications would receive a certificate identifiers

The full list of identifiers is at the end of the article in Annexure 4.

The Table below shows the how many identifications were made by how many different people. the bulk of the identifications are by a small subset of identifiers, indicate that Beetle identification not easy and that it is an area that needs more resources (guides and material) and more involvement

Number of Identifications (Range)	Number of People
> 200	1
151 to 200	1
101 to 150	1
51 to 100	1
21 to 50	3
11 to 20	8
6 to 10	6
2 to 5	25
1	37

Top Observers

As at the time of counting (00:06 am on the morning of 8th September 2022) 173 people had submitted 1163 beetle observations.

The top 10 observers are ranked and listed below.

S.no	Observers	Observations	Species	Rank by Observations
1	@rajkoranga	184	14	1st
2	@kunikimu	161	17	2nd
3	@finding_nimo_	69	3	3rd
4	@ram_k	67	3	DNQ
5	@dhrish_krish	61	11	Certificate
6	@abhiapc	61	18	Certificate
7	@venusclickz	53	7	Certificate
8	@debashischowdhury	51	6	Certificate
9	@purabchowdhury	48	7
10	@renjithjacobmathews	36	9

Observers with over 50 observations qualify for an event certificate, while the top 3 observers would receive special beetle related souvenirs.

The full list of observers is in Annexure 5

The event is likely to have attracted many 1st time observers, and the observations show the typical skew of some dedicated observers.

Observation Range	Observers	% Contribution
150-200	1	15.82%
101 to 150	1	13.84%
51 to 100	6	31.13%
21 to 50	2	7.22%
11 to 20	5	6.36%
6 to 10	6	4.13%
5 Observations	6	2.58%
4 Observations	8	2.75%
3 Observations	10	2.58%
2 Observations	30	5.16%
1 Observation	98	8.43%
Total	173	100.00%

Project Members

Totally 173 people participated in the event
of these 143 members posted observations, while 33 joined the project purely as identifiers.

110 observers posted observations via the direct add to project option, while 63 joined the project.

learnings

People posting via the add to project options would be encouraged to join the event so that :

their observations automatically show up, and
the would receive updates from the project

Event Time Line

Apart from the observation event some additional programmes were organized

Observation Event

India's Nature - Beetle Mania 2022 Observation Event 22nd to 28th August 2022
Project Link

Online Talks

21st August, 2022 Introduction to Beetles - Dr Amol Patwardhan (Flabella Team) (Zoom) Video Link to the talk
27th August 2022, Dr Kailash Chandra, Beetle Diversity of the Himalayas (Zoom)
Video will be made available soon

Beetle walks

22nd August 2022 - Munsiari, Uttarakhand. Organized by Himal Prakriti and India's. Participants 5. Walk Lead by @rajkoranga

27th & 28th August 2022 - Simhachalam and Kambalakonda, Andhra Pradesh, organized by East Coast Conservation Team and lead by @srichakrapranav

Partners

Beetle Mania 2022 was a collaborative effort.

The partners

India's Nature

@ram_k
Email: indias.nature01@gmail.com

DiversityIndia

@vijaybarve
Email : DiversityIndia@gmail.com

East Coast Conservation Team

@srichakrapranav
Email : eastcoastconservationtrust@gmail.com

Flabella Ecoservices LLP

@amolpatwardhan @beetlemaniac
Email : flabella.ecoservices@gmail.com

Himal Prakriti – A Trust for Nature

@triloksinghrana
Email : ranatriloksingh30@gmail.com, himal.prakriti@gmail.com,

Nature Mates-Nature Club

@naturemates
Email : naturemates@gmail.com

Nature Science Initiative

Email : nsi@ naturescienceinitiative.org, prasadsoumya@gmail.com

Titli Trust

@sanjaysondhi
Email : sanjay.sondhi1@gmail.com, titlitrust@gmail.com

Special thanks to the following for helping organize the talks, and some of walks

Amol Patwardhan, Ph.D, and Team Flabella (Harshad Parekar and Drashti Danani)
Vijay Barve (Diversity India)
Sanjay Sondhi (Titli Trust)
Trilok Rana (Himal Prakriti)
Srichakra Pranav Tamarapalli (East Coast Conservation Team)

Volunteers

Thank you to our volunteers who helped with design, data and some social media :

Jennifer Divyadarshi @mountainjen
Mehar Arunika
Preeti Rao

Resources and Support

Online resources (zoom) and some financial support were received from Uma and S Kalyanaraman and Ramnarayan Kalyanaraman

Annexes

All the data is collated as on (as on 08/09/22 (between) 00:00 and 00:10 a.m IST)

Annexure 1 - Distribution of observations across India

Rank	State or Union Territory	Observation - Count
1	Karnataka	267
2	Uttarakhand	231
3	West Bengal	164
4	Tamil Nadu	162
5	Andhra Pradesh	74
6	Maharashtra	72
7	Gujarat	65
8	Kerala	62
9	Chhattisgarh	28
10	Rajasthan	5
11	Assam	4
12	Telangana	4
13	Odisha	3
14	Arunachal Pradesh	2
15	Goa	2
16	Himachal Pradesh	2
17	Meghalaya	2
18	Sikkim	2
19	Uttar Pradesh	2
20	Bihar	1
21	Haryana	1
22	Jharkhand	1
23	Nagaland	1
	Total Observations	1157

Annexure 2 - List of Species Observed

Rank	*Species (Scientific Name)*	Observation Count
1	*Zygogramma bicolorata*	45
2	Aulacophora indica	35
3	Hycleus biundulatus	24
4	Coccinella transversalis	22
5	Cheilomenes sexmaculata	15
6	Clinteria klugi	15
7	Aspidimorpha furcata	13
8	Agrilus acutus	12
9	Coccinella septempunctata	11
10	Platycorynus peregrinus	9
11	Protaetia aurichalcea	9
12	Heterorrhina elegans	8
13	Hoplasoma unicolor	8
14	Laccoptera nepalensis	8
15	Cassida circumdata	6
16	Cyrtozemia cognata	5
17	Lema praeusta	5
18	Gametis versicolor	4
19	Henosepilachna vigintioctopunctata	4
20	Maladera formosae	4
21	Oryctes rhinoceros	4
22	Xystrocera globosa	4
23	Anthia sexguttata	3
24	Aspidimorpha miliaris	3
25	Aspidimorpha sanctaecrucis	3
26	Curinus coeruleus	3
27	Epepeotes uncinatus	3
28	Meristata sexmaculata	3
29	Micraspis discolor	3
30	Myllocerus undecimpustulatus	3
31	Peribleptus scalptus	3
32	Sagra femorata	3
33	Sphenoraia hopei	3
34	Broscus cephalotes	2
35	Calvia albida	2
36	Celosterna scabrator	2
37	Chilocorus nigritus	2
38	Cteniopinus semicoccineus	2
39	Epicauta hirticornis	2
40	Epilachna varivestis	2
41	Episomus chinensis	2
42	Lema lacertosa	2
43	Lilioceris cheni	2
44	Monolepta signata	2
45	Nicrophorus nepalensis	2
46	Oides palleata	2
47	Paratrachelophorus nodicornis	2
48	Parindalmus vestitus	2
49	Phrynocaria perrotteti	2
50	Sternuchopsis fabricii	2
51	Adoretus sinicus	1
52	Anomala perplexa	1
53	Anomala rufiventris	1
54	Anthelephila pedestris	1
55	Apomecyna saltator	1
56	Aspidolopha decora	1
57	Aulacophora nigripennis	1
58	Basilepta subcostata	1
59	Brassicogethes aeneus	1
60	Callistethus auronitens	1
61	Callistethus marginatus	1
62	Campsosternus auratus	1
63	Catharsius molossus	1
64	Chilocorus cacti	1
65	Chiridopsis bipunctata	1
66	Chlaenius emarginatus	1
67	Chrysochroa rajah	1
68	Chrysolina sturmi	1
69	Clinteria confinis	1
70	Copris lunaris	1
71	Coptops aedificator	1
72	Cordylocera livida	1
73	Cosmogaster lateralis	1
74	Craspedophorus mandarinus	1
75	Cryptalaus sordidus	1
76	Cryptocephalus sexsignatus	1
77	Diapromorpha turcica	1
78	Epilachna tredecimnotata	1
79	Epuraea aestiva	1
80	Eretes griseus	1
81	Halyzia sanscrita	1
82	Harmonia dimidiata	1
83	Henosepilachna pusillanima	1
84	Hippodamia variegata	1
85	Hoplapoderus gemmatus	1
86	Illeis confusa	1
87	Luperomorpha vittata	1
88	Micraspis univittata	1
89	Monolepta orientalis	1
90	Myllocerus dorsatus	1
91	Myllocerus viridanus	1
92	Necrobia ruficollis	1
93	Necrobia rufipes	1
94	Necrophila rufithorax	1
95	Oides affinis	1
96	Olenecamptus bilobus	1
97	Paragymnopleurus sinuatus	1
98	Paridea octomaculata	1
99	Podontia quatuordecimpunctata	1
100	Popillia japonica	1
101	Prosopocoilus biplagiatus	1
102	Rhynchophorus ferrugineus	1
103	Rosalia lateritia	1
104	Serica brunnea	1
105	Sternocera sternicornis	1
106	Sternochetus mangiferae	1
107	Strigapoderus tranquebaricus	1
108	Xylobiops basilaris	1
	*Total Observations*	395

Annexure 3 - List of Observed Families

Rank	Family Name	Observation- Count
1	*Chrysomelidae*	341
2	Scarabaeidae	247
3	Coccinellidae	120
4	Curculionidae	83
5	Tenebrionidae	46
6	Carabidae	44
7	Meloidae	44
8	Cerambycidae	31
9	Lycidae	24
10	Attelabidae	16
11	Buprestidae	16
12	Lampyridae	14
13	Elateridae	13
14	Staphylinidae	10
15	Cantharidae	9
16	Hydrophilidae	6
17	Lucanidae	6
18	Anthicidae	4
19	Anthribidae	4
20	Cleridae	4
21	Erotylidae	4
22	Nitidulidae	4
23	Dytiscidae	3
24	Endomychidae	3
25	Scirtidae	3
26	Silphidae	3
27	Silvanidae	3
28	Brentidae	2
29	Cryptophagidae	2
30	Histeridae	2
31	Prionoceridae	2
32	Ptinidae	2
33	Bostrichidae	1
34	Callirhipidae	1
35	Dermestidae	1
36	Gyrinidae	1
37	Laemophloeidae	1
38	Melyridae	1
39	Mordellidae	1
40	Passalidae	1
41	Ptilodactylidae	1
	Total Observation	1124

** Totally out of 1157 beetles observed some could only be identified to a higher taxonomic level (Super Family, Suborder or Order (Coleoptera)*

Annexure 4 - Complete List of Identifiers

(as on 08/09/22 time 00:07:38 am IST)

Rank	Identifier	Identifications
1	@sdjbrown	243
2	@rob-westerduijn	153
3	@ram_k	106
4	@borisb	84
5	@malacoderm	41
6	@herman8	23
7	@ambytbfl	22
8	@beetlemaniac	18
9	@nimithatr	18
10	@stegobups	16
11	@anubhav-agarwal	14
12	@debashischowdhury	14
13	@abhijatshakya	14
14	@odonut	12
15	@naturalist_aditya	12
16	@mpintar	10
17	@mydadguyfieri	8
18	@apoderus	7
19	@joshuabasham	7
20	@norose	7
21	@itsamantis	6
22	@purabchowdhury	5
23	@muddytortoise	5
24	@ihuangwen	5
25	@juhakinnunen	4
26	@chickenparmesan24	4
27	@nilmani_goswami	4
28	@venusclickz	4
29	@fornax313	4
30	@vijaybarve	3
31	@atom	3
32	@zhaomzhai	3
33	@zealouswizard	3
34	@ilya_zabaluev	3
35	@pranavchandrabose	3
36	@spiessberger	3
37	@cosimo_costanzia	3
38	@avipsha_mondal	3
39	@harleywyrm	3
40	@dkavanaugh	2
41	@sonukumar	2
42	@aminoa	2
43	@carabid_47	2
44	@vinod_shankar	2
45	@tribolonotus_gracilis	2
46	@molypoly	2
47	@yuan1717	1
48	@claasdamken	1
49	@subbu107	1
50	@devinth09	1
51	@emilianofranci	1
52	@harshithjv	1
53	@gabrif	1
54	@renju	1
55	@nishantpurushottamberde	1
56	@tusharagarwal18	1
57	@abtsmith	1
58	@ruzickajan	1
59	@jesteves	1
60	@marina_gorbunova	1
61	@alboertoalcala	1
62	@sciencegirl02	1
63	@naturalist14740	1
64	@raycama	1
65	@pjeganathan	1
66	@jameskdouch	1
67	@gopi1	1
68	@dannynelson94	1
69	@charlieglasser	1
70	@renjithjacobmathews	1
71	@grigorenko	1
72	@srichakrapranav	1
73	@kenneth_g	1
74	@thousif	1
75	@shkr	1
76	@staslit	1
77	@tepecoacuilcana	1
78	@that_bug_guy	1
79	@green_darkie	1
80	@stepanski	1
81	@drabys	1
82	@natzumi	1
83	@bastav	1

Annexure 5 - Complete list of Observers

S.no	Observers	Observations	Species
1	@rajkoranga	184	14
2	@kunikimu	161	17
3	@finding_nimo_	69	3
4	@ram_k	67	3
5	@dhrish_krish	61	11
6	@abhiapc	61	18
7	@venusclickz	53	7
8	@debashischowdhury	51	6
9	@purabchowdhury	48	7
10	@renjithjacobmathews	36	9
11	@tusharagarwal18	19	7
12	@itsamantis	16	7
13	@triloksinghrana	16	0
14	@srichakrapranav	12	7
15	@avipsha_mondal	11	5
16	@seemamerchant	10	3
17	@bonpradhan	9	1
18	@aniruddha_singhamahapatra	9	0
19	@sanjaysondhi	8	0
20	@mohua	6	0
21	@shanmukhavarma	6	1
22	@cs21b013	5	0
23	@aparnarao	5	2
24	@the_forest_spirit	5	2
25	@vikrantk	5	2
26	@kapil_chand	5	4
27	@ashwinv	5	1
28	@lakshmanadc	4	1
29	@nambirajan	4	0
30	@sumesh-pb	4	3
31	@diya_a	4	3
32	@nikhilasajeev	4	1
33	@naturalist_aditya	4	1
34	@swatiudayraj	4	1
35	@herman8	4	1
36	@elijah5311	3	1
37	@siva11	3	1
38	@maya318	3	1
39	@jashvant000	3	2
40	@sudheesh	3	2
41	@thousif	3	1
42	@shyamal_saikia	3	0
43	@altonfernandes	3	2
44	@subbi	3	1
45	@oligoglot	3	1
46	@ce21b037	2	1
47	@krishna71	2	1
48	@cs21b028	2	1
49	@cs21b053	2	1
50	@ramaashenoy	2	1
51	@ritika_chatterjee	2	1
52	@ok_owl_2869	2	1
53	@anciya_v_r	2	0
54	@cs21b042	2	1
55	@gannu03	2	0
56	@ravindra4	2	1
57	@hejil	2	0
58	@vidswami	2	2
59	@pranavchandrabose	2	0
60	@sandipan2001	2	1
61	@vivekbgirija	2	0
62	@carapiranha	2	1
63	@samrudhnandagopal	2	0
64	@odonut	2	0
65	@wild_sapien	2	0
66	@csbandi	2	0
67	@gs5	2	0
68	@gopisundar	2	1
69	@somebodyelse	2	2
70	@ashirwad	2	1
71	@thenatureaffair	2	2
72	@susmitabera	2	1
73	@rajukasambe	2	0
74	@dhruthi2	2	1
75	@ivijayanand	2	0
76	@komalg	1	1
77	@mansidhingra	1	0
78	@harini135	1	0
79	@satendra2	1	0
80	@iambalu	1	0
81	@yuhan_s_kochuparambil	1	0
82	@pushpa3	1	0
83	@bina6	1	0
84	@basanti1	1	0
85	@jacob1493	1	1
86	@cs21b058	1	1
87	@sreya_l	1	1
88	@akshara_p	1	0
89	@sai_srividya_mnv	1	0
90	@aeromaster213	1	0
91	@sneha_suresh	1	1
92	@debamita	1	1
93	@kiranyadav	1	0
94	@muhammed33	1	1
95	@vivek53	1	1
96	@kashyapsaji_	1	0
97	@abhisishdeb	1	0
98	@dharanendra	1	1
99	@sanju17	1	0
100	@kirankempanna7	1	0
101	@ruchag	1	0
102	@anilny	1	1
103	@sacredreinard	1	1
104	@deepsats	1	1
105	@swami_bogim	1	1
106	@rintz	1	0
107	@mayankbagchi91	1	1
108	@gayatri_11	1	0
109	@swapnilsuryakantgosavi	1	0
110	@loner1	1	0
111	@kaithavana	1	0
112	@mousumee	1	1
113	@aditya1_	1	0
114	@hrisikesh	1	0
115	@parul10	1	0
116	@davidhopkins27	1	0
117	@maria_anjum	1	0
118	@neelxd	1	0
119	@nutan1	1	1
120	@vinod_shankar	1	0
121	@ti_lamare	1	0
122	@asterix8	1	1
123	@ritu2008	1	0
124	@safwan0825	1	1
125	@kchandan	1	0
126	@brahmasoor	1	0
127	@hrishikesh_nayak	1	1
128	@babloo_farswan	1	1
129	@sarveshkp_gws	1	1
130	@manojbhat	1	0
131	@kothapalli_thanusree	1	0
132	@radhikaagarwal	1	0
133	@aadyathammaiah	1	0
134	@mrudula_g	1	0
135	@rakeshmuni	1	0
136	@sunilkumar16	1	1
137	@vivek_patel	1	0
138	@shivaprakash	1	1
139	@shashikanthbkambannavar	1	1
140	@rajivthanawala	1	0
141	@nishandv	1	0
142	@srinivas7	1	0
143	@richakedia	1	0
144	@sonukumar	1	0
145	@prajwaldeep	1	0
146	@kartikeyasaxena	1	1
147	@devendrakumargurjar	1	0
148	@elavarasan_mm	1	1
149	@parthkansara	1	1
150	@ninadsr	1	0
151	@akitamyoko	1	0
152	@gopi1	1	0
153	@amt1205	1	1
154	@awayk3n	1	0
155	@rajabandi	1	0
156	@surabhi_srivastava_gaur	1	0
157	@prashanthns	1	0
158	@trsraman	1	1
159	@srinivasan2	1	1
160	@mittal_g	1	1
161	@pjeganathan	1	0
162	@pranav11	1	0
163	@jayantdeshpande	1	1
164	@covemom	1	0
165	@saurabhsawant	1	0
166	@arungeorge	1	1
167	@kartiksundar	1	0
168	@afsarnayakkan	1	0
169	@renju	1	1
170	@jenis	1	1
171	@devinth09	1	0
172	@subbu107	1	0
173	@ashoksengupta5	1	1
	Total Observations	1163

Posted on September 11, 2022 07:20 PM by

ram_k

India's Nature - Beetle Mania 2022 - Conclusion