An illustrated guide to lady beetles (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) of the Indian Subcontinent. Part 1. Tribe Coccinellini Author POORANI, J. text Zootaxa 2023 2023-08-18 5332 1 1 307 http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5332.1.1 journal article 264199 10.11646/zootaxa.5332.1.1 66e0ec51-d494-43d4-965e-a2cd1462ef54 1175-5326 8261502 424F7439-4095-46A5-93E3-C4130E3B6D9A Propylea luteopustulata (Mulsant) ( Figs 176–179 ) Oenopia ( Pania ) luteopustulata Mulsant, 1850: 421 ( Holotype , OUM; Type locality: Assam , India ). Pania luteopustulata : Iablokoff-Khnzorian 1979: 58 ; 1982: 132 . Coelophora luteopustulata : Crotch 1874: 156 ; Sicard 1913: 500 . Oenopia luteopustulata : Korschefsky 1932: 288 ; Miyatake 1967: 77 . Propylea luteopustulata : Vandenberg & Gordon 1991: 30 ; Poorani 2002a: 340 . Oenopia luteopustulata a. thibetina : Mader 1926 ( 1935 ): 340. Oenopia luteopustulata var. thibetina : Kapur 1958: 329 . Oenopia pracuae Weise, 1891: 286 . Oenopia luteopustulata a. pracui : Mader 1926 ( 1935 ): 340. Oenopia luteopustulata a. pracuae : Kapur 1958: 329 . Coelophora pedicata Mulsant, 1853a: 180 . Oenopia luteopustulata var. subpedicata Kapur, 1958: 333 . FIGURE 175. Propylea japonica (Thunberg) : a, b. adult, dorsal view (BMNH); c. abdomen, female; d. female genitalia; e. spermatheca. FIGURE 176. Propylea luteopustulata (Mulsant) : a. adult, dorsal view; b–e. male genitalia: b. tegmen, lateral view; c. tegmen, ventral view; d. penis; e. penis apex. FIGURE 177. Propylea luteopustulata (Mulsant) : a, b. adult, variants (BMNH); c. female genitalia; d. spermatheca (enlarged). FIGURE 178. Propylea luteopustulata (Mulsant) , life stages: a, b. larva; c–n. adult, variants. Diagnosis. Length: 4.20–5.16 mm ; width: 3.54–4.35 mm . Form ( Fig. 176a ) broad oval to slightly elongate oval, dorsum moderately convex and glabrous. Ground colour red to orange yellow, with black markings on head, pronotum and elytra. Head yellow, with a transverse black marking in posterior half. Pronotum with a transverse black band along posterior margin, rarely with four black spots. Elytral pattern highly variable ( Fig. 178c–n ); with an anchor-shaped black marking ( Fig. 177a ) very similar to that in P. dissecta in various states of reduction ( Fig. 178c–f, m, n ) / with broken lines ( Fig. 176a ) / with 10–11 elytral spots ( Fig. 178g –l ) / with immaculate elytra ( Fig. 177b ). Male genitalia ( Fig. 176b–e ) and spermatheca ( Fig. 177c, d ) as illustrated. Immature stages. Life stages ( Figs 178a, b ; 179 ) as illustrated. FIGURE 179. Propylea luteopustulata (Mulsant) , life stages: a, b. eggs; c. early stage larva; d. mature larva; e. pupa; f. adult. Distribution. India : Widely distributed in the northern and northeastern regions and the Himalayas (Andaman Islands, Arunachal Pradesh , Assam , Himachal Pradesh , Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur , Meghalaya , Sikkim , Tripura , Uttarakhand , Uttar Pradesh , West Bengal ); Nepal ; Bhutan ; Pakistan ; Myanmar ; China ; Thailand ; Tibet; Taiwan ; Vietnam . Prey/associated habitat. Hemiptera: Aphidoidea : Adelges spp. , Aphis fabae Scopoli , Aphis craccivora Koch , Aphis gossypii Glover , Brachycaudus helichrysi (Kaltenbach) , Brevicoryne brassicae (L.), Capitophorus formosartemisiae (Takahashi) , Eriosoma lanigerum (Hausmann) , Hyalopterus pruni (Geoffroy) , Lipaphis pseudobrassicae (Kaltenbach) , Macrosiphoniella sanborni (Gillette) , Macrosiphum rosae (Linnaeus) , Myzus persicae (Sulzer) , Pineus sp. , Rhopalosiphum maidis (Fitch) , Sitobion rosaeiformis (Das) , and Tuberculatus indicus Ghosh. Associated with adelgids feeding on silver fir and pine; indeterminate aphids on Artemisia sp. , Spiraea sp. (label data). Found feeding on aphids infesting Galinsoga parviflora and Bidens pilosa along with P. luteopustulata ( Sajan et al. 2019 ) . Seasonal occurrence. Active during February–June; collected during September–December. Notes. This is the most common species of Propylea along with P. dissecta in the northeastern region of India and is highly variable. See Vandenberg & Gordon (1991) and Kovář (2007) for extralimital synonyms not listed here. See Kapur (1958) , Bielawski (1972), Vandenberg & Gordon (1991) , Ren et al . (2009) and Yu (2010) for more illustrations of elytral pattern variations and genitalia and list of synonyms.