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
Oenopia mimica
Weise
(
Fig. 151
)
Oenopia mimica
Weise, 1902: 505
(
Holotype
, ZMB; Type locality: ‘
India
Orient.’).
Oenopia mimica
:
Iablokoff-Khnzorian 1979: 70
(as synonym of
O. sauzeti
);
Mader 1935: 343
;
Poorani 2002a: 337
;
Poorani 2002b: 104
;
Poorani
et al
. 2015: 238
.
Gyrocaria mimica
:
Miyatake 1985: 16
.
Oenopia sauzeti
sensu
Kapur 1958: 331
.
Diagnosis.
Length:3.00–
4.30 mm
; width:
2.95–3.10 mm
.Form(
Fig. 151a, b
) short oval, dorsum convex and glabrous. Head black in female, yellow in male. Ground colour of pronotum and elytra bright lemon yellow to creamy yellow; pronotum with a black, hat-shaped macula (
Fig. 151c
) on posterior margin, its outer edges posteriorly extended, touching posterolateral corners of pronotum; elytral pattern as illustrated, with a median sutural marking that is distinctly elongate, gradually dilated and oval in the middle, narrowed towards both ends. Antenna 11-segmented (
Fig. 151e
), antennomeres 9 and 10 only slightly broader than long or nearly as broad as long with an elongate club. Elytral punctation (
Fig. 151d
) distinctive with conspicuous microsculpture in interspaces between elytral punctures. Abdominal postcoxal line incomplete with a short oblique associated line (
Fig. 151f
). Male genitalia (
Fig.151h, i
) and spermatheca (
Fig.
151g
) as illustrated.
Oenopia mimica
and
O. sauzeti
Mulsant
share the same overall external color scheme and the pronotal and elytral markings are superficially similar. The elytral pattern in
O. mimica
is also similar to that of the nominate form of
O. smetanai
Canepari (1997)
, another species distributed in the
Nepal
and Indian Himalayas.
Oenopia smetanai
is a rare species apparently endemic to the Eastern Himalayas and it has a variable elytral pattern. The nominate form of
O. smetanai
can be distinguished from
O. mimica
by its much smaller size (only 2.8–3.0 mm long), pronotum with a pair of oblique oval median spots and the male genitalia.
Distribution.
India
(
Arunachal Pradesh
,
Assam
,
Himachal Pradesh
,
Sikkim
,
Uttarakhand
,
Uttar Pradesh
,
West Bengal
);
Bhutan
;
Nepal
;
Myanmar
;
Laos
.
Prey/associated habitat.
Hemiptera
:
Adelgidae
:
Adelges
sp.
on silver fir, spruce, and other coniferous trees; unidentified aphids on
Artemisia
sp.
;
Taoia indica
(Ghosh & Raychaudhuri)
(label data). Feeds on aphids infesting
Bidens pilosa
and
Artemisia vulgaris
in
Nepal
(
Sajan
et al.
2019
). In Agarwala & Ghosh (1988),
O. mimica
is listed as a synonym of
O. sauzeti
and some of the host records of
O. sauzeti
are likely to be erroneous.
Seasonal occurrence.
Collected during May–June, October–November (northwestern region); June–October (
Nepal
Himalayas). Active during April–October in
Pakistan
(
Hayat
et al.
2017
).
Notes.
Kapur (1958)
illustrated the habitus and the male genitalia as
O. sauzeti
.
Miyatake (1985)
and
Poorani
et al.
(2015)
described and illustrated it.
Poorani
et al
. (2015)
provided brief diagnostic descriptions for both species and generated barcodes for separating them.