Harmonia Mulsant

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 : 121-124

Genus Harmonia Mulsant

Harmonia Mulsant, 1846: 108 ; 1850: 75; 1866: 55.—Crotch 1871: 3; Mader 1926: 19; Timberlake 1943: 17; Watson 1956: 48; Iablokoff-Khnzorian 1979: 71; 1982: 456.

Type species: Coccinella marginepunctata Schaller, 1783 (= Harmonia quadripunctata Pontoppidan, 1763 ), by subsequent designation of Timberlake 1943: 17.

Leis Mulsant, 1850: 241 . Type species: Coccinella dimidiata Fabricius , by subsequent designation (Crotch 1874: 119). Synonymized by Miyatake 1965: 60.

Ballia Mulsant, 1853a: 159 ; Type species: Ballia christophori Mulsant , by subsequent designation of Crotch 1874: 126. Synonymized by Iablokoff-Khnzorian 1979: 71.

Callineda Crotch, 1871: 6 .— Timberlake, 1943: 17 (not Crotch, 1874: 122). Type species: Coccinella sedecimnotata Fabricius , by subsequent designation of Rye 1873: 329. Synonymized by Timberlake 1943: 17.

Stictoleis Crotch, 1874: 118 .— Korschefsky, 1932: 275. Type species: Coccinella corypha Guérin-Méneville 1835 , by original designation. Synonymized by Iablokoff-Khnzorian 1979: 71.

Ptychanatis Crotch, 1874: 122 . Type species: Coccinella axyridis Pallas, 1773 , by original designation. Synonymized by Korschefsky 1932: 440.

Coccinella (Harmonia) : Chapuis 1876: 179; Korschefsky 1932: 439.

Rhopaloneda Timberlake, 1943: 17 (replacement name for Callineda sensu Crotch, 1874 , not 1871). Type species: Callineda decussata Crotch , by original designation. Synonymized by Iablokoff-Khnzorian 1982: 458.

Diagnosis. Size medium to large, coloration yellow, orange or reddish with various patterns. Form elongate oval (erstwhile subgenus Ptychanatis Crotch 1874 ) or strongly rounded and convex (erstwhile subgenus Leis Mulsant, 1850 ). Head with anteroclypeal margin straight between lateral projections. Inner margins of eyes strongly divergent towards apex, separated by at least twice the eye width. Antenna 11-segmented, terminal antennomere apically obliquely truncate and asymmetrically transverse. Prothoracic hypomeron without foveae. Prosternal intercoxal process with carinae. Mesoventrite with anterior margin very shallowly emarginate. Abdomen with six visible ventrites, abdominal postcoxal line incomplete with an oblique, associate dividing line that is usually curved and apically merged with the main line. Mid and hind tibia without spurs. Ovipositor with coxites shaped like club handles; spermatheca with a narrow / reduced ramus and a well-developed / produced nodulus, infundibulum present and distinct.

Distribution. This is a moderately large genus with about 30 species (Coutanceau 2008), distributed “throughout the Old World, particularly abundant in the Oriental and Australo-Pacific regions” ( Ślipiński et al. 2020).

Affinities. Tomaszewska et al. (2021) included Hippodamia , Harmonia and Aphidecta Weise in the Hippodamiagroup of genera. They recovered Hippodamia + Harmonia in a subclade with moderate support and Aphidecta formed a sister-group.

Included species. Eight species are present in the Indian region, one of them, Harmonia andamanensis sp. n. (described here), is endemic to South Andamans.