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  <front>
    <journal-meta>
      <journal-id journal-id-type="publisher-id">102</journal-id>
      <journal-id journal-id-type="index">urn:lsid:arphahub.com:pub:73abe0ce-d97c-5d7c-bee5-b8e6e6fe6a17</journal-id>
      <journal-title-group>
        <journal-title xml:lang="en">ARPHA Preprints</journal-title>
        <abbrev-journal-title xml:lang="en">preprints</abbrev-journal-title>
      </journal-title-group>
      <publisher>
        <publisher-name>Pensoft Publishers</publisher-name>
      </publisher>
    </journal-meta>
    <article-meta>
      <article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.3897/arphapreprints.e154400</article-id>
      <article-id pub-id-type="publisher-id">154400</article-id>
      <article-categories>
        <subj-group subj-group-type="heading">
          <subject>Short Communication</subject>
        </subj-group>
        <subj-group subj-group-type="biological_taxon">
          <subject>Animalia</subject>
        </subj-group>
        <subj-group subj-group-type="scientific_subject">
          <subject>Ecology &amp; Environmental sciences</subject>
          <subject>Systematics</subject>
        </subj-group>
        <subj-group subj-group-type="geological_era">
          <subject>Cenozoic</subject>
        </subj-group>
        <subj-group subj-group-type="geographical_area">
          <subject>Asia</subject>
        </subj-group>
        <subj-group subj-group-type="sdg">
          <subject>Life on land</subject>
        </subj-group>
      </article-categories>
      <title-group>
        <article-title>Larval description with notes on biology of <italic>Holotrichia fissa </italic>(Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae) from central India</article-title>
      </title-group>
      <contrib-group content-type="authors">
        <contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="yes">
          <name name-style="western">
            <surname>Khadakkar</surname>
            <given-names>Suvarna</given-names>
          </name>
          <email xlink:type="simple">suvarnask17@gmail.com</email>
          <uri content-type="orcid">https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4874-0211</uri>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="A1">1</xref>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="no">
          <name name-style="western">
            <surname>Tiple</surname>
            <given-names>Ashish</given-names>
          </name>
          <uri content-type="orcid">https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6372-7376</uri>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="A2">2</xref>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="no">
          <name name-style="western">
            <surname>Khurad</surname>
            <given-names>Arun</given-names>
          </name>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="A3">3</xref>
        </contrib>
      </contrib-group>
      <aff id="A1">
        <label>1</label>
        <addr-line content-type="verbatim">Indian Institute of science, Bangalore, India</addr-line>
        <institution>Indian Institute of science</institution>
        <addr-line content-type="city">Bangalore</addr-line>
        <country>India</country>
      </aff>
      <aff id="A2">
        <label>2</label>
        <addr-line content-type="verbatim">Vidyabharti College, Seloo, Wardha, India</addr-line>
        <institution>Vidyabharti College, Seloo</institution>
        <addr-line content-type="city">Wardha</addr-line>
        <country>India</country>
      </aff>
      <aff id="A3">
        <label>3</label>
        <addr-line content-type="verbatim">RTM Nagpur University, Nagpur, India</addr-line>
        <institution>RTM Nagpur University</institution>
        <addr-line content-type="city">Nagpur</addr-line>
        <country>India</country>
      </aff>
      <author-notes>
        <fn fn-type="corresp">
          <p>Corresponding author: Suvarna Khadakkar (<email xlink:type="simple">suvarnask17@gmail.com</email>).</p>
        </fn>
        <fn fn-type="edited-by">
          <p>Academic editor: </p>
        </fn>
      </author-notes>
      <pub-date pub-type="collection">
        <year>2025</year>
      </pub-date>
      <pub-date pub-type="epub">
        <day>01</day>
        <month>04</month>
        <year>2025</year>
      </pub-date>
      <volume>6</volume>
      <uri content-type="arpha" xlink:href="http://openbiodiv.net/29CC831D-3693-5763-8EAE-7BDBCE1FCCD7">29CC831D-3693-5763-8EAE-7BDBCE1FCCD7</uri>
      <history>
        <date date-type="received">
          <day>31</day>
          <month>03</month>
          <year>2025</year>
        </date>
        <date date-type="accepted">
          <day>31</day>
          <month>03</month>
          <year>2025</year>
        </date>
      </history>
      <permissions>
        <copyright-statement>Suvarna Khadakkar, Ashish Tiple, Arun Khurad</copyright-statement>
        <license license-type="creative-commons-attribution" xlink:href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" xlink:type="simple">
          <license-p>This is an open access preprint distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.</license-p>
        </license>
      </permissions>
      <abstract>
        <label>Abstract</label>
        <p>Though economically important, the field of description of larval morphology and taxonomy of Scarabs is restricted to a very few publications specifically from India. This study was planned to study and document the morphology of developmental stages of one of the most commonly occurring species of scarab, <i>Holotrichia fissa </i>(Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae) from central India. Here we describe in detail the morphological characteristics of egg, first, second and third instar larva and pupa along with notes on biology of the species. The details of third instar larva are described focussing on the structure of Cranium, Antenna, Labrum, Clypeus, Epipharynx, Mandibles, Maxilla, Thorax, Abdomen, and Raster pattern. This study adds to the knowledge of morphology of the developmental stages the species.</p>
      </abstract>
    </article-meta>
  </front>
</article>
