Coccinella, Semenowi Weise, 1889

Kovář, Ivo, 2005, Revision of the Palaearctic species of the Coccinella transversoguttata species group with notes on some other species of the genus (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 45, pp. 129-164 : 60-61

III. Coccinella subgenus Spilota Billberg, 1820

Spilota Billberg, 1820: 61 .

Spilota : TIMBERLAKE (1919): 163.

Coccinella (Neococcinella) Savoyskaya, 1969: 104 , syn. nov.; IABLOKOFF- KHNZORIAN (1979): 66 (catalogue); IABLOKOFF- KHNZORIAN (1982): 341.

Dobzhanskia Iablokoff-Khnzorian, 1970a: 70 ; IABLOKOFF- KHNZORIAN (1979): 66 (synonymy).

Diagnosis of Coccinella (Spilota) . Oval to elongate oval, slightly to moderately convex. Ground colour of elytra orange-red with 11 black spots arranged in basic scheme or yellow with colour pattern derived from basic scheme. Aedeagus with basal piece robust, much long- er than paramere, in ventral aspect elongate pentagonal and deeply emarginate dorsally, without terminal appendix. Trabes distinctly shorter than basal piece and paramere combined, somewhat wider laterally than in other Coccinella but without distal cleft as in Ceratomegilla . Sipho moderate, siphonal capsule straight and pointed at base, with dorsal rib small and restricted to basal portion, inner distal projection slightly developed, at most semicircular. Tubular part of sipho semicircular, peculiarly sickle-shaped and strikingly dilated laterally, forming round to oval dish at base. Preapical part of sipho narrowing laterally, bearing only one membranose swelling on each side. Terminal ampulla of sipho small, rather elongate, with supporting sclerites parallel-sided in lateral view. Spermatheca with sparse annulation.

Discussion. In his key to Palaearctic Coccinella, DOBRZHANSKIY (1926) separated two species, C. undecimpunctata Linnaeus, 1758 and C. miranda Wollaston, 1864 , from other Coccinella using characters of the basal portion of siphonal tube. Later he proposed the C. undecimpunctata species group for three Palaearctic species ( DOBRZHANSKIY 1931), adding C. pontica Dobrzanskiy, 1927 which is currently considered as a subspecies of C. undecimpunctata . SAVOYSKAYA (1969) and IABLOKOFF- KHNZORIAN (1970a) independently proposed each a new subgenus for C. undecimpunctata – Neococcinella Savoyskaya, 1969 and Dobzhanskia Iablokoff-Khnzorian, 1970 . Dobzhanskia was synonymized with Neococcinella by IABLOKOFF- KHNZORIAN (1979). The priority of the generic name Spilota Billberg, 1820 was first stressed by BELICEK (1976), as C. undecimpunctata was designated by TIMBERLAKE (1919) as the type species of that taxon.

BELICEK (1976) found only shared characters in ‘male genital armature, structure of female genitalia, as well as general body structure and color pattern, especially of pronotum and elytra’ in C. septempunctata and C. undecimpunctata . He thus synonymized Spilota with Coccinella . GORDON (1985) followed the same opinion and added Neococcinella and Dobzhanskia into the synonymy list of Coccinella . However, the peculiar characters of male genital armature of Spilota are unique in Coccinella . The common presence of a reduced siphonal capsule and the basal dilatation of siphonal tube in species of Spilota and Ceratomegilla supports the subgeneric status of Spilota in Coccinella rather than reducing it to a synonym of Coccinella .

Therefore, the three species currently placed in Neococcinella must be classified as follows: C. (Spilota) alpigrada (Iablokoff-Khnzorian) , comb. subgen. nov.; C. (Spilota) miranda Wollaston , comb. subgen. nov.; and C. (Spilota) undecimpunctata Linnaeus , comb. subgen. nov.