Phrynocaria Timberlake, 1943

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 : 118-119

Phrynocaria Timberlake, 1943

Phrynocaria Timberlake, 1943: 34 . Type species by original designation, Coccinella congener Billberg in Schönherr 1808: 179 (= Coccinella unicolor Fabricius, 1792 ).

Phrynolemnia Iablokoff-Khnzorian, 1984: 204. Type species by original designation, Coccinella congener Billberg in Schönherr, 1808 . Synonymized by Ślipiński 2007: 176.

Lemnia (Phrynocaria) : Iablokoff-Khnzorian 1984: 205, 210–214.

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

Lemnia (Neoartemis) : Ukrainsky 2006: 400 (replacement name for Artemis Mulsant ).

Anegleis (Pseudanegleis) Iablokoff-Khnzorian, 1982: 296 . Type species by original designation, Coelophora perrotteti Mulsant, 1850: 409 . —Synonymized by Poorani 2002: 339.

Diagnosis: Medium-sized beetles, form broadly oval to almost circular, dorsum moderately to strongly convex, glabrous. Anterior clypeal margin of head straight between lateral projections. Antenna with 11 antennomeres, last four forming a terminal club; eyes large, prominent, eye canthus deep and narrow; frons narrow between eyes, markedly divergent and broadened anteriorly toward antennal insertions. Prothoracic hypomeron with distinct foveae near anterolateral corners. Mesoventrite anteriorly deeply, triangularly emarginate. Abdominal postcoxal lines incomplete, without an oblique dividing line. Meso- and metatibial spurs absent.

Phrynocaria may be confused with related genera such as Coelophora Mulsant, 1850 (including Lemnia Mulsant, 1850 ), Microcaria Crotch, 1871 (formerly a synonym of Coelophora ), and Synona Pope, 1989 that share a roughly hemispherical body shape with a narrowly explanate elytral margin; however, it is easily distinguished from these genera by the large eyes, much narrower frons (interocular distance at narrowest point equal to from 0.8 to 1.3 times the width of an eye) and lack of meso- and metatibial spurs.

Notes: Timberlake (1943) established Phrynocaria and provided a key to Coelophorine genera, including Phrynocaria , based on the male genitalia. Iablokoff-Khnzorian (1984) treated it as a subgenus of Lemnia . He also established a subgenus Lemnia (Microlemnia) which had Coelophora vidua Mulsant (= Coelophora inaequalis (F.)) as the type species, but also included species that truly belonged to Phrynocaria (e.g. P. unicolor (F.), which is synonymous with P. congener , the type species of Phrynocaria ). Lemnia (Microlemnia) was listed as a synonym of Coelophora by Ślipiński et al. (2020) with a note that ‘it was an invalid taxon not accompanied by a description’. Pope (1989) stated that Iablokoff-Khnzorian’s interpretation of Phrynocaria probably includes ‘species related to Lemnia (Artemis) circumusta (Mulsant) ’. Ślipiński et al. (2020) revised the Australo-Pacific species of Phrynocaria and stated that the composition of Phrynocaria was uncertain and its relationships with Coelophora and Lemnia needed further research. He noted that preliminary unpublished research supported the separation of Coelophora and Phrynocaria , but the position of Lemnia remained unresolved. Anegleis (Pseudanegleis) Iablokoff-Khnzorian (1982) is a synonym of Phrynocaria Mulsant as its type species, Anegleis (Pseudanegleis) perrotteti was transferred to Phrynocaria by Poorani (2002).

Biology / hosts: Aphids, coccids and psyllids have been recorded as prey of Phrynocaria spp. from Australia ( Pope 1989). Australo-Pacific Phrynocaria spp. are known to be associated with soft scales ( Hemiptera : Sternorrhyncha: Coccidae ) and aphids ( Houston 1988; Ślipiński et al. 2020). However, some Indian species of Phrynocaria seem to have a proclivity to feed on whiteflies ( Hemiptera : Sternorrhyncha: Aleyrodidae ). At least two species, Phrynocaria unicolor (= P. congener ) and P. perrotteti (Mulsant) , are known to feed on whiteflies in India ( Kapur 1940). Phrynocaria perrotteti is predatory on spiralling whitefly ( Aleurodicus dispersus Russell ) on many host plants in Karnataka ( Ramani et al. 2002), Dialeuropora decempuncta Quaintance on mulberry ( Narendra Kumar et al. 2013) and unidentified whiteflies on other hosts (personal observation / label data). Phrynocaria unicolor is also known to be a whitefly feeder and is collected in association with Dialeuropora sp. on Persea bombycina , a host plant of muga silkworm, in northeastern India. Wu et al. (2010) studied its comparative biology (under the name P. congener ) on a whitefly ( Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius)) and an aphid ( Myzus persicae (Sulzer)) and found that the developmental period of P. unicolor was shorter and survival rate greater on B. tabaci than M. persicae . Escalona et al. (2017) observed ‘phylogenetically independent food preference transitions from aphidophagy to other food sources in many Coccinellini’, but none of the genera / species of Coccinellini studied by them is known to feed on whiteflies.