Phrynocaria circumusta ( Mulsant, 1850 )

Poorani, J., Sankararaman, H. & Anusree, S. S., 2021, A review of Indian species of Phrynocaria Timberlake (Coleoptera, Coccinellidae) with notes on synonymy and a new species from South India, hitherto misidentified as Coelophora circumusta (Mulsant), Zootaxa 4926 (1), pp. 117-133 : 119

Phrynocaria circumusta ( Mulsant, 1850) , comb. nov.

( Fig. 1 )

Artemis circumusta Mulsant, 1850: 374 , 388; 1866: 256.—Preoccupied in Lepidoptera (not Artemis Kirby et Spence, 1828 ( Insecta : Lepidoptera : Saturniidae ) ( Ukrainsky 2006: 400)).

Coelophora circumusta: Crotch 1874: 150 .— Korschefsky 1932: 291.— Poorani 2002: 328.— Kovář 2007: 613.

Lemnia (Artemis) circumusta: Iablokoff-Khnzorian 1982: 233 .

Lemnia (Neoartemis) circumusta: Ukrainsky 2006: 400 .

Lemnia circumusta: Yu 2010: 76–77 .

Coelophora moseri Weise, 1902: 500 . New synonym.

Lemnia moseri: Iablokoff-Khnzorian 1982: 259 .

Phrynocaria moseri: Ślipiński et al. 2020: 105 .

Coelophora westermanni Mulsant, 1850: 391 ; 1866: 257.— Crotch 1874: 151.—Synonymized by Iablokoff-Khnzorian 1982: 233.

Artemis mandarina Mulsant, 1850: 389 .— Crotch 1874: 150 (as synonym of C. circumusta ).

Artemis rufula Mulsant, 1850: 389 .— Crotch 1874: 150 (as synonym of C. circumusta ).

Diagnosis: Phrynocaria circumusta can be identified by its reddish / yellowish head and pronotum and black elytra, each elytron bearing a red macula on the basal margin adjacent to the scutellar shield ( Fig. 1a ) that is often much enlarged and comma shaped ( Fig. 1b ). Variants with reddish elytra bearing narrow black external margins and with immaculate reddish elytra are known from the type locality ( Hong Kong) and also from northern India. Rarely, forms with yellowish pronotum and fully black elytra are found that are externally similar to Synona spp. The male genitalia ( Figs. 1i, j ) are, however, diagnostic.

Material examined: INDIA: “Madras, India / G. Bryant coll. 1919-147/ Artemis circumusta / male genitalia in glass vial” (1, BMNH); “ Assam: Monkhooshi T.E. Assam / Assoc. with tea / Coelophora circumusta (Muls.) , det. R.G. Booth” (1, BMNH); “Chabua, Assam ” (1, BMNH).

Distribution: India: Andhra Pradesh; Assam; Kerala; Jammu & Kashmir; Uttarakhand. Nepal. Thailand. China Hong Kong ( Lee & Winney 1981). Taiwan.

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It was ‘purposely introduced, not established’ in Hawaii ( Leeper 2015). Timberlake (1943) and Nishida (2002) also mentioned its introduction in Hawaii and the intended target pest was ‘Psylla’.

Notes: Mulsant (1850) originally described the genus Artemis with three species: A. circumusta (with reddish elytra bearing narrow black external margins), A. rufula (with immaculate reddish elytra) and A. mandarina (with black elytra, each bearing a red macula on the anterior margin adjacent to the scutellar shield ( Fig. 1a ) that is often much enlarged and comma shaped ( Fig. 1b )). All three newly described species were from Hong Kong ( China). Mulsant opined that they were much alike, differing only in the elytral colour pattern. Crotch (1874) synonymized the three species noting that ‘these three forms differed, as Mulsant supposed, only in colour’. Crotch (1874) recognized the combination Coelophora circumusta and treated Lemnia and Artemis as congeners of Coelophora stating that they ‘hardly differed in any points of importance’. The generic placement of this species has been contentious. Iablokoff-Khnzorian (1982) treated Coelophora and Lemnia as distinct genera and Artemis as a subgenus of Lemnia , using the name Lemnia (Artemis) circumusta . Ukrainsky (2006) gave a replacement name, Neoartemis, for this subgenus because Artemis was preoccupied in Lepidoptera (Saturniidae) . Ślipiński (2007) treated Lemnia as a synonym of Coelophora , but Ren et al. (2009) and Yu (2010) considered Lemnia and Coelophora as distinct genera, and used the name ‘ L. circumusta ’. Poorani (2002) included C. circumusta in the checklist of Indian Coccinellidae with a note that ‘it may not be a true Coelophora as it lacks tibial spurs.’. It is transferred here to Phrynocaria in view of the typical generic characters (new combination). The male genitalia of P. moseri ( Weise, 1902) , illustrated in the revision of Australo-Pacific Coccinellini by Ślipiński et al. (2020), look extremely close to those of P. circumusta and the two species are treated here as synonyms (new synonym).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Phrynocaria circumusta (Mulsant): a) habitus, dorsal view; b) habitus, lateral view; c) head; d) antenna; e) maxilla; f) prosternal process and mesoventrite; g) abdominal postcoxal line; h) female genitalia: spermatheca; i, j. male genitalia: i) tegmen, ventral view; j) penis.