Oenopia kirbyi 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 : 211

Oenopia kirbyi Mulsant

( Fig. 150 )

Oenopia kirbyi Mulsant, 1850: 425 (Lectotype, OUM; Type locality: ‘Kasia hills”).— Poorani 2002a: 337; Poorani 2002b: 102; Yu 2010: 99–100.

Gyrocaria kirbyi: Miyatake 1965: 66 .

Diagnosis. Length: 3.70–3.90 mm; width: 3.00– 3.20 mm. Form ( Fig. 150a–d ) oval, dorsum moderately convex and glabrous. Head black. Pronotum black with anterolateral corners yellow. Ground colour of elytra bright lemon yellow, with four black spots, margins black, sutural black stripe broad and medially wider ( Fig. 150a–d ).Ventral side black except elytral epipleura yellowish. Male genitalia ( Fig. 150f, g ) and spermatheca ( Fig. 150e ) as illustrated.

Distribution. India (Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal); Eastern Himalayas; Bhutan; Nepal; Myanmar; Thailand; Laos.

Prey/associated habitat. Hemiptera: Aphidoidea : Aphis fabae Scopoli , A. fabae solanella Theobald , Aphis gossypii Glover , Aphis paraverbasci Chakrabarti , Aphis spiraecola Patch (as A. citricola van der Goot ), Brevicoryne brassicae (Linnaeus) , Capitophorus formosartemisiae (Takahashi) , Cervaphis rappardi indica Basu , Coloradoa rufomaculata (Wilson) , Eriosoma lanigerum (Hausmann) , Eulachnus thunbergii (Wilson) , Hyalopterus pruni (Geoffroy) , Macrosiphum rosae (Linnaeus) , Myzus persicae (Sulzer) , Pineus sp. , Rhopalosiphum maidis (Fitch) , Sitobion rosaeiformis (Das) , and Tuberculatus indicus Ghosh. Collected in association with aphids feeding on peach, almond, maize, Cucumis sativus , Quercus serrata , Solanum nigrum , and Duranta repens . Feeds on aphids infesting Bidens pilosa in Nepal ( Sajan et al. 2019).

Seasonal occurrence. Collected during February, March–June, August, and October–December in north and northeastern regions.

Notes. Poorani (2002b) treated it in her review of Indian Oenopia . Ghosh et al. (1986) studied its biology. See Poorani (2002), Ren et al. (2009) and Yu (2010) for description and illustrations of the genitalia / immature stages.

Figures

FIGURE 150. Oenopia kirbyi Mulsant: a–d. live adult; e. female genitalia: spermatheca; f, g. male genitalia: f. tegmen, ventral view; g. penis.