Coccinella longifasciata Liu

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 : 78-81

Coccinella longifasciata Liu

( Fig. 53a )

Coccinella longifasciata Liu, 1962: 262 (Type locality: China); Ren et al. 2009: 186, 187; Yu 2010: 114.

Coccinella nigrovittata Kapur, 1963: 37 (Holotype male, BMNH; Type locality: Tibet).— Poorani 2002a: 326; Synonymized by Kovář 2007: 611; Yu 2010: 114.

Diagnosis. Length: 3.20–5.00 mm; width: 2.10–3.80 mm. Form ( Fig. 53a ) elongate oval, widest just behind middle of body length, moderately convex and glabrous. Head black with a pair of pale testaceous or whitish frontal spots, one each near inner margin of eye; pronotum black except anterior and lateral margins paler, yellowish; scutellar shield black; elytra yellowish-testaceous, with a short, elongate oval spot immediately behind scutellar shield; each elytron with a black discal vitta, slightly oblique, starting from humeral callus and extending to about 5/6th the elytral length (from Kapur 1963). Genitalia not studied.

It is readily separated from its Indian congeners by its distinctly elongate form and the presence of the elytral vittae. It is superficially similar to Oenopia adelgivora Poorani , which is elongate with three pale brown elytral stripes but smaller in size with a much narrower form. Kapur (1963) found its size and general shape were comparable with Oenopia billieti (Mulsant) , a Himalayan species but the genitalia were different in the latter.

Distribution. Tibet, Mount Everest.

Note. See Kapur (1963) for detailed description (as C. nigrovittata ) with illustrations. Kapur (1963) commented that it appeared to be an aberrant species of Coccinella in view of the elongate shape of the body and the coloration of the pronotum and elytra. Coccinella longifasciata Liu, 1962 and C. nigrovittata , which was described around the same time by Kapur (1963) were synonymized by Kovář (2007). Ren et al. (2009) illustrated the habitus and the male genitalia of C. longifasciata and Yu (2010) also included it in his conspectus on Chinese Coccinellini .

Figures

FIGURE 53. a. Coccinella longifasciata Liu; b. Coccinella tibetina Kapur; c. Coccinella lama Kapur; d. Coccinella transversoguttata Faldermann (BMNH, type material).