Coelophora decemguttata Weise

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 : 103

Coelophora decemguttata Weise

( Fig. 68 )

Coelophora decemguttata Weise, 1912: 114 (Type locality: Sikkim).— Mader 1926 (1934): 326, 327; Korschefsky 1932: 291; Poorani 2002a: 328.

Phrynocaria decemguttata: Iablokoff-Khnzorian 1982: 276 ; Kovář 2007: 623.

Brief redescription. Length: 5.80–6.30 mm; Form broad, almost circular in outline ( Fig. 68a ); dorsum glabrous except head with silvery white hairs. Head yellow, pronotum yellow with a median black macula reaching beyond middle ( Fig. 68c ), scutellar shield with basal margin only yellow, rest black; each elytron with 5 spots arranged in a 2-2-1 pattern ( Fig. 68a ), outer spots open laterally and confluent with the yellowish lateral margins which are distinctly explanate ( Fig. 68b ); lateral margins of pronotum and elytra narrowly black. Ventral side with last antennomere and mandibular apices brown, prosternal arms medially infuscate, metaventrite black, legs yellowish brown except forefemora basally brownish, first three abdominal ventrites medially dark brown, ventrite 4 anteriorly infuscate, last ventrite emarginate medially.

Head with interocular distance less than twice eye width. Pronotum with anterolateral corners distinctly sinuate near apex. Head and pronotum finely and densely punctate, interspaces with distinctly reticulate microsculpture; pronotal punctures denser towards posterior margin; elytra uniformly densely punctate, punctures slightly larger, slightly farther apart than those on pronotum, interspaces with distinct microsculpture that becomes more obsolete towards lateral margins, punctures more broadly separated on lateral sides. Hypomera with anterior inner corners having distinct foveae. Epipleura distinctly foveolate on level with mid and hind legs. Mesoventrite medially emarginate. Abdominal postcoxal line incomplete, without an associated line ( Fig. 68d ). Male genitalia ( Fig. 68f–i ) and spermatheca ( Fig. 68e ) as illustrated.

Distribution. India (Sikkim; West Bengal (Darjeeling)). It is rarely collected and apparently endemic to the Eastern Himalayas.

Notes. It is a poorly known species apparently endemic to the Eastern Himalayas. Iablokoff-Khnzorian (1982) described this species and illustrated the habitus and male genitalia. Kovář (2007) included it under Phrynocaria , but it is placed in Coelophora here due to the presence of tibial spurs and the male genitalia, particularly the penis having a basal sclerite and a hinged, smaller, apical piece. Mader (1934) also treated it and illustrated the habitus.

Figures

FIGURE 68. Coelophora decemguttata (Weise): a. adult, dorsal view; b. adult, lateral view; c. head and pronotum; d. abdominal postcoxal line; e. spermatheca; f–i. male genitalia: f. tegmen, lateral view; g. tegmen, ventral view; h. penis; i. penis apex.