Coccinella septempunctata Linnaeus

POORANI, J., 2023, An illustrated guide to lady beetles (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) of the Indian Subcontinent. Part 1. Tribe Coccinellini, Zootaxa 5332 (1), pp. 1-307 : 82-87

Coccinella septempunctata Linnaeus

( Figs 54–56 )

Coccinella 7- punctata Linnaeus, 1758: 365 .

Coccinella septempunctata: Korschefsky 1932: 486 ; Poorani 2002a: 326.

Coccinella confusa Wiedemann, 1823: 72 ; Mulsant 1850: 112 (as a var. of divaricata); Sudha Rao 1962: 1341.

Coccinella bruckii Mulsant, 1866: 90 ; Crotch 1874: 46.

Coccinella septempunctata brucki: Korschefsky 1932: 491 .

Diagnosis. Length: 5.20–8.60 mm; width: 4.00– 6.60 mm. Form oval, strongly convex. Head black, with a pair of semicircular frontal spots, one on either side of inner margin of eyes. Pronotum black, with a pale yellow or white anterolateral spot. Ground colour of elytra red, orange or yellow, elytral pattern in typical form ( Fig. 54a ) with seven black spots-one common spot around scutellar shield, and three on each elytron, with small whitish patches on either side of scutellar shield, just above scuellar spot; elytral spots often joined together ( Figs 55f , 56i ). Ventral side almost completely black. Abdominal postcoxal line ( Fig. 54b ) incomplete with an associated line. Last visible abdominal ventrite with a median bunch of hairs in males, posterior margin emarginate and prominently dented; subtriangular with arcuate posterior margin in females. Male genitalia ( Fig. 54d–i ) and spermatheca ( Fig. 54c ) as illustrated.

Immature stages. Life stages as illustrated in Figs 55 , 56 . Mature larva ( Fig. 55a–c ) dark greyish to black with a pair of reddish / orange / yellowish lateral markings on abdominal tergite 1 and 4. Pupa ( Figs 55d , 56g ) orange with black markings.

Distribution. It is a Palaearctic species but with a wide distribution almost throughout India and many parts of the Oriental region and Asia. North Africa. Adventively introduced in several countries including North America.

Prey/associated habitat. Commonly associated with aphids infesting crops such as mustard, wheat, maize, cowpea, cotton, sorghum, sugarcane, etc. in very large numbers, especially during winter months in the northern region. Aleyrodidae : Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) ; Aphidoidea s.l.: Adelges spp. , Aphis craccivora Koch , Aphis gossypii Glover , Aphis pomi De Geer , Brevicoryne brassicae (Linnaeus) , Cervaphis rappardi indica Basu , Dreyfusia (as Adelges ) knucheli (Schneider-Orelli & Schneider) (as Chermes himalayensis Stebbing ), Dactynotus carthami Hille Ris Lambers , Hyadaphis coriandri (Das) , Lipaphis pseudobrassicae (Kaltenbach) , Mindarus japonicus Takahashi , Myzus ? ornatus Laing , Peregrinus maidis (Ashmead) , Pineus sp. , Rhopalosiphum nymphaeae (Linnaeus) , Therioaphis trifolii (Monell) , Aphis (Toxoptera) aurantii Boyer de Fonscolombe ; Cicadellidae : Idioscopus clypealis (Lethierry) ; Monophlebidae : Drosicha dalbergiae (Green) ; Diaspididae : Comstockaspis perniciosa (Comstock) ; Lophopidae : Pyrilla perpusilla (Walker) ; Psyllidae : Diaphorina citri Kuwayama ; Lepidoptera : early instar larvae of Chilo partellus (Swinhoe) and Helicoverpa armigera (Ḩbner). Pollen of wildflowers. Numerous other hosts recorded from India and other parts of the world.

Seasonal occurrence. Collected almost round the year, particularly active during July–November in southern India, and during winter in northern states.

Natural enemies. Dinocampus coccinellae (Schrank) and Homalotylus flaminius (Dalman) are common parasitoids of this species. Schaefer & Semyanov (1992) provided a world list and bibliography of arthropod natural enemies of this species.

Notes. This is the ladybird for many naturalists and perhaps the best-known species of the family. It is a habitat generalist and has proved invasive in many parts of the world outside its native range (CABI, 2022). It is a highly aggressive coloniser and non-target effects due to its introduction are fairly well documented. In the USA and Canada, where it was purposely, and possibly also accidentally, introduced, it has become well established and is out-competing native North American coccinellids, including Hippodamia convergens ( Gordon, 1985) .

Puttarudriah & Channabasavanna (1953) provided brief notes on its biology and hosts. Kapur (1962) and Sudha Rao (1962) illustrated common elytral pattern variations. Gordon & Vandenberg (1995) described and illustrated the larva. Illustrated by Ren et al. (2009) and Yu (2010).

Figures

FIGURE 54. Coccinella septempunctata L.: a. adult, dorsal view; b. abdominal postcoxal line; c. spermatheca; d–i. male genitalia: d, g. tegmen, ventral view; f. tegmen, lateral view; e, h. penis, variants; i. penis apex.

FIGURE 55. Coccinella septempunctata Linnaeus, life stages: a–c. larva; d. pupa; e–j. adult.

FIGURE 56. Coccinella septempunctata L., life stages: a, b. eggs; c–f. larval instars; g. pupa; h. adult, nominate form; i. adult, common variant.