Chilocorus politus Mulsant

POORANI, J., 2023, An illustrated guide to the lady beetles (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) of the Indian Subcontinent. Part II. Tribe Chilocorini, Zootaxa 5378 (1), pp. 1-108 : 61

Chilocorus politus Mulsant

( Fig. 46 )

Chilocorus politus Mulsant, 1850: 455 .

Chilocorus politus : Crotch 1874: 184; Weise 1902: 507; Korschefsky 1932: 240; Booth & Pope 1989: 360; Nagaraja & Hussainy 1967: 252; Sasaji 1968b: 20; Chazeau et al. 1974: 280; Hoáng 1983: 19; Booth & Pope 1989: 360; Cao et al. 1992: 153; Poorani 2002: 312; Kovář 2007: 593; Li et al. 2018: 5 .

Diagnosis. Length: 4.50–6.50 mm; width: 3.90 mm. Form ( Fig. 46a–d ) broad oval to almost circular, dorsum hemispherical and strongly convex, glabrous. Dorsal and ventral surfaces uniform orange-yellow to ochreous to reddish-orange. Abdominal postcoxal line ( Fig. 46e ) incomplete. Male genitalia ( Fig. 46f–i ) and spermatheca ( Fig. 46j ) as illustrated.

Distribution. India: Apparently restricted to eastern Himalayan region and parts of north-eastern region (Meghalaya; Sikkim; West Bengal); Bhutan; Nepal; Thailand; Laos; Indonesia (Java); Réunion; introduced in Mauritius.

Prey / Associated habitat. Citrus whitefly, indeterminate aphids on citrus (label data).

Seasonal occurrence. Collected during May-July from eastern Himalayas of India (label data).

Notes. Chilocorus politus was originally described from Nepal and it has a restricted distribution in some parts of north-eastern India, Nepal, and Bhutan. The male genitalia illustrations of C. politus in Li et al. (2018) match the Indian C. politus . However, the male genitalia of ‘ C. politus ’ illustrated by Chazeau et al. (1974: 279) from Réunion Island are different and certainly belong to a different and distinct species. Another Oriental species, Chi locorus melanophthalmus Mulsant, distributed in Indonesia and Malaysia, is externally similar to C. politus and it is differentiated from C. politus by “the epipleura not foveate, pronotum narrower anteriorly and angles different” (note on BMNH specimens by RGB) and the male genitalia (see Ren et al. 2009).

Figures

FIGURE 46. Chilocorus politus Mulsant: a, b. adult, dorsal view; c. adult, lateral view; d. adult, frontal view; e. abdominal postcoxal line; f–i. male genitalia: f. tegmen, lateral view; g. tegmen, ventral view; h. penis; i. penis apex; j. spermatheca.