Harmonia dimidiata (Fabricius)

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 : 126-131

Harmonia dimidiata (Fabricius)

( Figs 87–89 )

Coccinella dimidiata Fabricius, 1781: 94 (Type locality: ‘Coromandel’).

Coccinella dimidia Hope, 1831: 30 (Lectotype, BMNH; Type locality: Nepal).—Booth & Pope 1989: 352.

Leis dimidiata: Mulsant 1850: 242 ; Crotch 1874: 119; Korschefsky 1932: 273.

Harmonia dimidiata: Miyatake 1965: 62 ; Sasaji 1971: 281; Poorani 2002a: 330; Ren et al. 2009: 194; Yu 2010: 124–125.

Diagnosis. Length: 6.65–9.45 mm; width: 6.50–9.00 mm. Form ( Fig. 87a ) circular, large, dorsum strongly convex, almost hemispherical and glabrous. Head yellow. Pronotum yellow with a pair of black spots, often fused into a single marking with a median emargination or absent altogether. Elytra orange-yellow or reddish, with thirteen black spots arranged in a 1-3-2-1/2 pattern ( Figs 87a , 88a–c , 89h ); elytral pattern variable, elytral spots much larger in size ( Fig. 88d–i ) or posterior two-thirds of elytra black and anterior portion yellowish, with or without humeral black spots ( Fig. 88j, k ). Abdominal postcoxal line ( Fig. 87b ) incomplete, with an oblique, lateral dividing line. Male genitalia ( Fig. 87d–g ) and spermatheca ( Fig. 87c ) as illustrated.

Immature stages. Larva ( Fig. 89a–d ) black with abdominal segments 1–4 yellow or orange, dorsal and lateral tubercles on thorax and abdomen marked with greyish-blue pruinosity. Pupa ( Fig. 89e–g ) reddish with black maculae.

Distribution. India: Widely distributed from Kashmir to Assam and the Himalayas, one of the most common Coccinellini in the northeastern region (Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur, Nagaland, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Sikkim, Tripura, West Bengal); Pakistan; Bhutan; Nepal; Vietnam; Japan; China; Taiwan; Introduced into and established in North America and Far Eastern Russia.

Prey/associated habitat. Aphidoidea s.l.: Acyrthosiphon pisum (Harris) , Adelges sp. , Aiceona litseae Basu & Hille Ris Lambers , Aphis craccivora Koch , Aphis glycines Matsumura , Aphis gossypii Glover , Aphis pomi De Geer , Aphis spiraecola Patch , Brevicoryne brassicae (Linnaeus) , Ceratovacuna silvestrii (Takahashi) , Cervaphis quercus Takahashi , Cervaphis rappardi indica Basu , Eriosoma lanigerum (Hausmann) , Macrosiphum euphorbiae (Thomas) , Myzus ornatus Laing , Myzus persicae (Sulzer) , Mollitrichosiphum alni Ghosh et al. , Rhopalosiphum maidis (Fitch) , Schizaphis graminum (Rondani) , Tuberculatus paiki Hille Ris Lambers , Tuberculatus indicus Ghosh ; Margarodidae : Drosicha dalbergiae (Green) on almond; Psyllidae : Diaphorina citri Kuwayama ; Lepidoptera : Saturniidae : Muga silkworm, Antheraea assamensis (Helfer) .

Associated with aphids infesting Bambusa sp. , Cajanus cajan , Zea mays, Pisum sativum, mustard, apple, Lathyrus sativus , and Litsea polyantha ; adelgids on silver fir; most common on oak ( Quercus serrata ) forests ( Singh & Singh 1985; Devi 1989).

Irshad (2001) recorded the following hosts from Pakistan: Adelges sp. , Amritodus atkinsoni , Idioscopus nagpurensis , Acyrthosiphon pisum , Aphis craccivora , Therioaphis trifolii , Bemisia tabaci , Eucosma pylonitis , Dioryctria abietella

Seasonal occurrence. January–September, November (label data); peak period of activity is April–September in northwestern India and August–September in northeastern region of India.

Natural enemy. Dinocampus coccinellae ( Richerson, 1970) .

Notes. As pointed out by Kapur (1963), its type locality is mentioned as ‘Coromandel’ though it is not found in peninsular India. Booth & Pope (1989) listed the synonyms from Hope’s (1931) material collected in Nepal and designated lectotypes. Sasaji (1971), Gordon (1985), Bielawski (1972), Ren et al. (2009) and Yu (2010) provided detailed descriptions and / or illustrations of the habitus, genitalia and the immature stages. Sasaji (1977) described the larva and Singh & Phaloura (1990) provided a field key to Harmonia spp. Chakrabarti et al. (1988), Phaloura & Singh (1993) and Sharmila et al. (2009) studied its biology, predatory potential and reproduction on various aphid hosts. In Far Eastern Russia, it was used with some success for augmentative biological control of aphids ( Semyanov 1996, 1999; Kuznetsov & Pang 2002).

Figures

FIGURE 87. Harmonia dimidiata (Fabricius): a. adult; b. abdominal postcoxal line; c. spermatheca; d–g. male genitalia: d. tegmen, lateral view; e. tegmen, ventral view; f. penis; g. penis apex.

FIGURE 88. Harmonia dimidiata (Fabricius): a–k. live adult, polymorphic forms.

FIGURE 89. Harmonia dimidiata (Fabricius), life stages: a–d. larva; e–g. pupa; h. adult.