Chilocorus bipustulatus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Coccinella bipustulata Linnaeus, 1758: 367.

Remarks.

This species is known as the biocontrol agent of the scale insect Parlatoria blanchardi (Targioni Tozzetti 1892), a date palm pest, and Aonidiella orientalis (Newstead 1894), a pest of Citrus spp. (Martin 1972), and is widely distributed throughout the world. In the present study, its adults were collected from date palm orchards on the grasses and shrubs under the palm tree and in the agroecosystem on the grasses.

Material examined.

old collection from ANMA, Riyadh: Ad Diriyah, Education farm, 24°40'N, 46°35'E, 26.III.1975, 1♂, hand written label (date palm orchard); Wadi Hanifah, 24°45'N, 46°36'E, 26.I.1977, Al Shaqaty, M., ANMA, 1ex; Riyadh, 24°43.01'N, 46°38.65'E, 4.III.1979, Sarhan, K. and Shalaby, F., 29exs, hand written label [grasses]; V.1966, ANMA, 1ex.

Local distribution.

This species was found in Riyadh region and listed by Martin (1972) and reported by Beccari (1971) from Riyadh and by Talhouk (1982) from Riyadh and Eastern region.

World distribution.

Asia: AF, CY, FE, GAN, IN, IQ, PAL, JO, KI, KZ, LE, MG, SA, SI, SY, TR, UZ, and XIN; Europe: AB, AL, AR, AU, AZ, BE, BH, BY, CZ, CT, DE, EN, FI, FR, GB, GE, GG, GR, HU, IR, IT, LA, LT, LU, MA, MC, MD, NL, NR, NT, PL, PT, RO, SK, SL, SP, ST, SV, SZ, TR, UK, and YU; North Africa: AG, EG, LB, MO, MR, TU; AFR, and NAR ( Kovář 2007).