Coelophora biplagiata (Swartz)

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 : 95-97

Coelophora biplagiata (Swartz)

( Fig. 63 )

Coccinella biplagiata Swartz , in Scĥnherr, 1808: 196 (Type locality: China).

Lemnia biplagiata: Mulsant 1850: 383 : 1866: 252; Yu 2010: 72.

Coelophora biplagiata: Crotch 1874: 149 ; Poorani 2002a: 327; Kovář 2007: 613.

Diagnosis. Length: 5.50–6.50 mm; width: 4.40–5.50 mm. Form ( Fig. 63a ) broadly circular, convex. Body broadly oval, strongly convex, dorsum glabrous. Head light yellow. Pronotum black, lateral sides yellowish confluent along cephalic border. Elytra black with a broad reddish patch, irregular in outline, situated in the anterior half of elytra. Male genitalia ( Fig. 63b–e ) as illustrated.

Distribution. India: Northeastern region (Manipur, Assam); Nepal; Myanmar; Thailand; China; The Philippines; Korea; Japan; Introduced in Far Eastern Russia.

Prey/associated habitat. Known hosts include: Aphididae : Aphis craccivora Koch , Aphis gossypii Glover , Ceratovacuna lanigera Zehntner , Aphis (Toxoptera) aurantii Boyer de Fonscolombe ; Diaspididae : Chrysomphalus aonidum (Linnaeus) , Lepidosaphes beckii (Newman) . Collected on sugarcane and in association with indeterminate aphids infesting pigeonpea, Vigna sp. and Argemone sp.

Can develop well on Schizaphis graminum (Rondani) , Aphis glycines Matsumura , Aphis fabae Scopoli , Acyrthosiphon pisum (Harris) , Macrosiphum rosae (Linnaeus) , and A. craccivora in the laboratory and greenhouse conditions ( Kuznetsov & Pang 2002). Feeds on aphids on Bidens pilosa , Thuja compacta and Prunus persicae in Nepal ( Sajan et al. 2019). Introduced in Far Eastern Russia from China and found to be very effective in controlling aphids infesting melon, cucumber and peppers in greenhouses ( Kuznetsov & Pang 2002).

Seasonal occurrence. Collected during March, July–August, September–October (Assam, northeastern region).

Note: Most of the Indian records of C. biplagiata are suspect and most probably refer to C. saucia , a similar looking, more widely distributed species. Sasaji (1971) and Yu (2010) provided a detailed description with illustrations. See Semyanov (2001) and Kuznetsov & Pang (2002) for biology, prey and use in pest management.

Figures

FIGURE 63. Coelophora biplagiata: a. adult, dorsal view; b–e. male genitalia: b. tegmen, lateral view; c. tegmen, ventral view; d. penis; e. penis apex.