An illustrated guide to the lady beetles (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) of the Indian Subcontinent. Part II. Tribe Chilocorini
Author
POORANI, J.
text
Zootaxa
2023
2023-11-27
5378
1
1
108
https://www.mapress.com/zt/article/download/zootaxa.5378.1.1/52353
journal article
294804
10.11646/zootaxa.5378.1.1
8a6ca207-2c3f-4770-bfd4-f83ad6e6e426
1175-5334
10208917
68976F75-EC46-480B-AB8A-061B1441A958
Chilocorus politus
Mulsant
(
Fig. 46
)
Chilocorus politus
Mulsant, 1850: 455
.
Chilocorus politus
:
Crotch 1874: 184
;
Weise 1902: 507
;
Korschefsky 1932: 240
;
Booth & Pope 1989: 360
;
Nagaraja & Hussainy 1967: 252
;
Sasaji 1968b: 20
;
Chazeau
et al.
1974: 280
;
Hoáng 1983: 19
;
Booth & Pope 1989: 360
;
Cao
et al.
1992: 153
;
Poorani 2002: 312
;
Kovář 2007: 593
;
Li
et al.
2018: 5
.
Diagnosis.
Length:
4.50–6.50 mm
; width:
3.90 mm
. Form (
Fig. 46a–d
) broad oval to almost circular, dorsum hemispherical and strongly convex, glabrous. Dorsal and ventral surfaces uniform orange-yellow to ochreous to reddish-orange. Abdominal postcoxal line (
Fig. 46e
) incomplete.
Male
genitalia (
Fig. 46f–i
) and spermatheca (
Fig. 46j
) as illustrated.
Distribution.
India
: Apparently restricted to eastern Himalayan region and parts of north-eastern region (
Meghalaya
;
Sikkim
;
West Bengal
);
Bhutan
;
Nepal
;
Thailand
;
Laos
;
Indonesia
(
Java
);
Réunion
; introduced in
Mauritius
.
Prey / Associated habitat.
Citrus whitefly, indeterminate aphids on citrus (label data).
Seasonal occurrence.
Collected during May-July from eastern Himalayas of
India
(label data).
Notes.
Chilocorus politus
was originally described from
Nepal
and it has a restricted distribution in some parts of north-eastern
India
,
Nepal
, and
Bhutan
. The male genitalia illustrations of
C. politus
in
Li
et al.
(2018)
match the
Indian
C. politus
.
However, the male genitalia of ‘
C. politus
’ illustrated by
Chazeau
et al
. (1974: 279)
from
Réunion Island
are different and certainly belong to a different and distinct species. Another Oriental species,
Chi locorus melanophthalmus
Mulsant, distributed in
Indonesia
and
Malaysia
, is externally similar to
C. politus
and it is differentiated from
C. politus
by “the epipleura not foveate, pronotum narrower anteriorly and angles different” (note on BMNH specimens by RGB) and the male genitalia (see
Ren
et al
. 2009
).