Adalia bipunctata (Linnaeus)

(Fig. 13)

Coccinella bipunctata Linnaeus, 1758: 364 (Lectotype female, LSL; Type locality: ‘In Europae’).

Idalia bipunctata: Mulsant 1846: 51 .

Adalia bipunctata: Mulsant 1846: Addenda et errata [second]; Crotch 1874: 102; Korschefsky 1932: 385; Iablokoff-Khnozorian 1982: 438; Gordon 1985: 780; Pope 1989: 649; Poorani 2002a: 320; Ren et al. 2009: 170–171; Ślipiński 2007: 146; Ślipiński et al. 2020: 15.

Diagnosis. Length: 4.50–5.50 mm; width: 3.30–4.20 mm. Form (Fig. 13a, b) elongate oval, dorsum moderately convex, glabrous. Head black with a semicircular creamy yellow area on either side of inner margins of eyes. Pronotum creamy yellow with a black M-shaped median marking. Scutellar shield black. Eltyra reddish, each with a median black spot. Ventral side black except prothoracic hypomeron, epipleura and lateral parts of abdominal ventrites yellowish; legs black. Male genitalia (Fig. 13c–f) and spermatheca (Fig. 13g) as illustrated. Highly polymorphic with numerous colour forms.

Distribution. Pakistan (Rafi et al. 2005; Khan et al. 2007). Specimens collected from mainland India have not been examined, but it is presumed to be present in the colder reaches of the northwestern region. This is a Holarctic species, introduced in Chile, Argentina, New Zealand and Australia (Ślipiński et al. 2020).

Prey / associated habitat. Feeds on Adelges joshii (Schneider-Orelli & Schneider) and Parlatoria oleae (Colvée) as reported in Pakistan (Rafi et al. 2010); and wheat aphids infesting Triticum aestivum and T. alexanderium (Khan et al. 2007) .

Notes. Adalia tetraspilota (Hope) occasionally has two-spotted elytra and it is often misidentified as A. bipunctata . See Ślipiński et al. (2020) for a detailed description of A. bipunctata .