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 pakistanensis
(Ahmad & Ghani)
(
Figs 44
,
45
)
Simmondsius pakistanensis
Ahmad & Ghani, 1966: 9
.—
Poorani 2002: 314
;
Kovář 2007: 595
.
Chilocorus pakistanensis
:
Li
et al
. 2020b: 461
.
Diagnosis.
Length:
3.60–4.50 mm
; width:
2.90–3.20 mm
. Form (
Fig. 44
,
45a–c
) elongate oval, dorsum moderately convex. Head (
Fig. 45b, c
) blackish blue with greyish hairs; pronotum and elytra metallic greenish blue to blue, glabrous. Antenna (
Fig. 45d
) short, with 7 antennomeres, antennomeres 4–7 forming a somewhat fusiform club. Maxilla (
Fig. 45e
) dark brown to black, cylindrical, apical margin obliquely transverse. Tarsal claws sickle-shaped / falciform with weak basal teeth. Abdominal postcoxal lines (
Fig. 45f
) incomplete.
Male
genitalia (
Figs.
45g
–i
) as illustrated. Coxites elongate triangular, spermatheca (
Fig. 45j
) as illustrated.
Distribution.
India
(
Uttarakhand
; Jammu & Kashmir);
Pakistan
.
Prey / associated habitat.
The
type
specimens were found “feeding on
Parlatoria oleae
(Colvee)
on
Pinus excelsa
” (
Ahmad & Ghani 1966
)
. Feeds on
Aphis pomi
and scale insects on apple (
Maqbool
et al.
2020
). Other known hosts include
Aonidiella orientalis
(Newstead)
,
Comstockaspis perniciosa
,
Leucaspis coniferarum
Hall & Williams
(
Diaspididae
).
Seasonal occurrence.
In Kashmir,
India
, adults were observed to emerge in May and started overwintering in September (
Maqbool
et al
. 2020
).
Natural enemies.
Dinocampus coccinellae
(Schrank)
(
Hymenoptera
:
Braconidae
) (
Maqbool
et al
. 2018
),
Tetrastichus epilachnae
Giard
(
Hymenoptera
:
Eulophidae
).
Notes.
This was the
type
species of
Simmondsius
Ahmad & Ghani (1966)
, a genus described from
Pakistan
and now subsumed into
Chilocorus
.
Simmondsius
was erected based on the antenna with seven antennomeres and falciform tarsal claws and
Li
et al
. (2020b)
recently reduced it to a synonym of
Chilocorus
based on their combined molecular and morphological analysis of the tribe
Chilocorini
. It was not listed in the annotated checklist of
Coccinellidae
from
Pakistan
by
Ali
et al.
(2018)
.
Orcus nepalicus
Canepari 2012
, described from
Nepal
as the “most western species of the genus
Orcus
”, is described as ‘dorsally black with blue metallic sheen’ and the ventral side is also largely blackish-brown.The description and the male genitalia illustrations given by
Canepari (2012)
indicate it is most likely to be a synonym of
C. pakistanensis
, a species distributed in the same geographical range. The
type
of
O. nepalicus
could not be studied for confirming this.