Chilocorus rubidus Hope

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 : 64

Chilocorus rubidus Hope

( Figs 47, 47A )

Chilocorus rubidus Hope , in Gray 1831: 31.

Chilocorus rubidus : Mulsant 1850: 452; Crotch 1874: 183; Weise 1887: 210; Korschefsky 1932: 241; Mader 1955: 775; Kapur 1956: 262, 1972: 313; Kamiya 1959: 100; Nagaraja & Hussainy 1967: 253; Miyatake 1970a: 318; Sasaji 1971: 224; Pang & Mao 1979: 80; Booth & Pope 1989: 362; Pang et al. 2002: 320, 2004: 29; Poorani 2002: 312; Kovář 2007: 593; Ren et al. 2009: 134; Li et al. 2018: 10 .

Coccinella tristis Faldermann, 1835: 452 .

Chilocorus tristis : Mulsant 1850: 452; Crotch 1874: 183. Synonymized by Weise 1885b: 51.

Chilocorus rubidus ab. tristis : Korschefsky 1932: 241; Kapur 1956: 262.

Diagnosis. Length: 5.80–7.20 mm; width: 4.50–6.00 mm. Form ( Fig. 47a–d ) medium to large, short oval to somewhat heart shaped, dorsum strongly convex, elytra distinctly narrowed in posterior half. Head, pronotum and scutellar shield black ( Fig. 47d ). Elytra dark burgundy or beet red or reddish brown, with indistinctly defined blackish lateral margins. Ventral side dark reddish brown, except head, prosternum, metaventrite, elytral epipleura and legs black. Male genitalia ( Figs 47e, f; 47A : c–e), female genitalia ( Fig. 47A : g) and spermatheca ( Fig. 47A : b) as illustrated.

Distribution. India: North-western and north-eastern regions (Himachal Pradesh; Jammu & Kashmir; Kumaon Hills; Manipur; Nagaland; Uttarakhand; Uttar Pradesh; West Bengal); Himalayas; Nepal; Pakistan; Malaysia; Vietnam; China; Mongolia; Japan; Far Eastern Russia; Celebes. Recorded from Goa in peninsular India by Kapur (1972), which appears to be erroneous / a case of mislabelling.

Prey/associated habitat. Hemiptera : Aphididae : Macrosiphum rosae (Linnaeus) , Sitobion rosaeiformis (Das) , Nippolachnus piri Matsumura. Cicadellidae : Pyramidotettix mali Yang. Coccoidea : Ceroplastes japonicus Green , Ceroplastes sinensis Del Guercio , Coccus hesperidum Linnaeus , Coccus pseudomagnoliarum (Kuwana) , Comstockaspis perniciosa (Comstock) , Didesmococcus koreanus Borchsenius , Drosicha corpulenta (Kuwana) , Ericerus pela (Chavannes) , Eulecanium caraganae Borchsenius , Eulecanium kunoense (Kuwana) , Eulecanium tiliae (L.), Kermes castaneae Shi & Liu , Kermes miyasakii Kuwana , Kermes nakagawae Kuwana , Metaceronema japonica (Maskell) , Parthenolecanium corni (Bouché) , Pseudaulacaspis pentagona (Targioni Tozzetti) , Pulvinaria aurantii Cockerell , Pulvinaria spp. , Saissetia coffeae (Walker) (as S. hemisphaerica (Targioni Tozzetti)) , Unaspis citri (Comstock) . It is a predator of scales damaging trees and shrubs ( Kuznetsov 1997). Associated with scales infesting apple, pear, and other temperate fruits.

Seasonal occurrence. Active in May– June in Jammu & Kashmir. Collected in December (Kalimpong, West Bengal) (label data). Observed in large numbers in August on San Jose scale-infested pear in Kashmir ( Kapur 1956) .

Notes. It was originally described from Nepal and it appears to be common in the cooler climates of north-western India and Pakistan with a fairly wide distribution in the Palaearctic region ( Kovář 2007). See the following works for more details: Kapur 1956; Nagaraja & Hussainy 1967; Sasaji 1971; Kuznetsov 1997 (description with illustrations, notes on biology); Huang et al. 2002 (bionomics in China).

Figures

FIGURE 47. Chilocorus rubidus Hope: a–c. adult, dorsal view; d. frontal view; e, f. male genitalia: e. tegmen, ventral view; f. penis.