Heteroneda billardieri Crotch

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 : 149

Heteroneda billardieri Crotch

( Fig. 104 )

Coccinella reticulata Fabricius, 1801: 362 (preoccupied) (Type locality: Luzon).— Mulsant 1850: 301; 1866: 213 (as Daulis ). Heteroneda reticulata: Crotch 1874: 162 ; Korschefsky 1932: 281.

Heteroneda billardieri Crotch, 1871: 6 ; 1874: 162.— Iablokoff-Khnzorian 1982: 538; Poorani 2002a: 332.

Diagnosis. Length: 7.00 mm. Form broad oval to almost circular, dorsum convex and glabrous. Ground colour bright lemon yellow, pronotum with a narrow median black stripe connected to a transverse black marking on posterior margin, elytra with a characteristic yellow and black reticulate pattern comprising five areolae on each elytron ( Fig. 104a–d ). Genitalia not studied.

Distribution. India (northeastern region); Myanmar; Indonesia; China. Ślipiński et al. (2020) mentioned its distribution range “extends from India, Singapore and Myanmar to Indonesia and the Philippines ”. Though I have never examined any specimens from Indian mainland, it is presumed to be present in the northeastern region of India bordering Myanmar and China.

Biology. A generalist aphid feeder ( Ślipiński et al. 2020); recorded as feeding on mango leafhopper ( Idioscopus clypealis (Lethierry)) and subabul psyllid ( Heteropsylla cubana Crawford ) in Malaysia and the Philippines (Barcos et al. 2014).

Figures

FIGURE 104. Heteroneda billardieri (Crotch): a–d. adult (Photo courtesy: Wikimedia Commons).