Aiolocaria hexaspilota (Hope)

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 : 33-36

Aiolocaria hexaspilota (Hope)

( Figs 18 , 19 )

Coccinella hexaspilota Hope, 1831: 31 (Lectotype male, BMNH; Type locality: Nepal).

Caria sexspilota: Mulsant 1850: 235 ; 1866: 168.

Aiolocaria hexaspilota: Crotch 1874: 178 .

Aeolocaria hexaspilota: Barovsky 1928: 232 .

Aiolocaria hexaspilota: Korschefsky 1932: 277 ; Poorani 2002a: 320; Ren et al. 2009: 170–171; Yu 2010: 136.

Leis mirabilis Motschulsky, 1860: 246 (Type locality: Amur / Russia); Iablokoff-Khnzorian 1972: 165.

Aiolocaria mirabilis: Korschefsky 1932: 277 ; Sasaji 1971: 297.

Diagnosis. Length: 9.50–12.00 mm; width: 8.00– 9.50 mm. Form ( Fig. 19a, b ) subrounded, convex. Head black with a median, three-pronged subtriangular yellow-orange marking on frons. Pronotum black, lateral sides white or pale yellow, posterior half with narrow black margin. Elytra black with red markings ( Fig. 19a ) or orange to bright reddish with black markings ( Fig. 19b ), or sometimes entirely black. Ventral side black except anterior half of prothoracic hypomeron yellowish, inner half of elytral epipleura and lateral margins of abdominal ventrites yellowish, elytral epipleura red. Antenna yellowish brown, apically darker. Abdominal postcoxal line ( Figs 18c , 19c ) incomplete with an oblique associated line. Abdominal ventrite 5 in male truncate, ventrite 6 gently emarginate. Spermatheca ( Figs 18f , 19d ) with a very long, protruding nodulus. Male genitalia ( Figs 18d, e , 19f–i ) as illustrated.

Distribution. India (Jammu & Kashmir, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal); Himalayas; Bhutan; Nepal; Myanmar; China; Japan; Korean peninsula; Far Eastern Russia.

Prey/associated habitat. It is one of the largest coccinellids of the region and is known to feed on the eggs, grubs and pupae of chrysomelids on apple, willow, walnut ( Juglans mandshurica ), Alnus nepalensis , Salix alba , Quercus incana , and Quercus dilatata . It is apparently arboreal in its habits and associated with mixed-coniferous and broad-leaved forests, forest agrocoenoses and orchards ( Kuznetsov 1997). Maqbool et al. (2020) reported it as feeding on A. pomi and scales in the apple orchards of Kashmir. Phaloura et al. (1992) and Kuznetsov (1997) studied its biology (as A. mirabilis ).

Known host records are as follows: Chrysomelidae : Chrysomelina (as Linaeidea ) chlorina Maulik, Gastrolina depressa Baly , Gastrolina pallipes Chen , Gastrolina peltoidea (Gebler) , Gastrolina thoracica Baly , Melasoma adamsi Baly , Melasoma populi (Linnaeus) , Melasoma vigintipunctata (Scopoli) , Podontia lutea (Olivier) ; Erebidae : Hyphantria cunea (Drury) ; Diaspididae : Comstockaspis perniciosa (Comstock) .

Found feeding on scale insects on walnut trees and other wild vegetation in Pakistan (Khan et al., 2006).

Seasonal occurrence. Collected during June–August and October–November (label data). In Kashmir, adults were observed to emerge in May and started overwintering in September ( Maqbool et al. 2020). Active during May–August on willow trees ( Kundoo 2019).

Notes. Sasaji (1971), Kuznetsov (1997), Ren et al. (2009) and Yu (2010) have provided detailed descriptions and illustrations of the habitus, immature stages and the genitalia.

Figures

FIGURE 18. Aiolocaria hexaspilota (Hope): a. antenna; b. head; c. abdominal postcoxal line; d, e. male genitalia: d. tegmen, ventral view; e. penis; f. spermatheca.

FIGURE 19. Aiolocaria hexaspilota (Hope): a, b. adult, dorsal view; c. abdominal postcoxal line; d. spermatheca; e. coxite; f–i. male genitalia: f. tegmen, lateral view; g. tegmen, ventral view; h. penis; i. penis apex.