Macroilleis hauseri (Mader)

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 : 173-174

Macroilleis hauseri (Mader)

( Fig. 122 )

Halyzia hauseri Mader, 1930: 162 (Type locality: China).

Macroilleis hauseri: Miyatake 1965: 71 ; Iablokoff-Khnzorian 1982: 216–217; Hoang 1983: 39; Poorani 2002a: 342; Yu 2010: 152; Li et al. 2010: 17.

Diagnosis. Length: 5.50–7.80 mm; width: 4.10–5.80 mm. Form elongate oval, widest around middle of elytra; dorsum moderately convex and glabrous. Dorsal side yellow, pronotum with a yellowish brown, indistinct to Mshaped marking, elytra bright yellow with four white to paler creamy yellow stripes, the first and second pair of stripes apically fused ( Fig. 122a, b ). Prosternal carinae anteriorly incomplete. Abdominal postcoxal line very short and incomplete. Posterior margins of abdominal ventrite 5 posteriorly medially produced, ventrite 6 broadly rounded to subtruncate in female ( Fig. 122d ); ventrite 5 and 6 broadly and very deeply emarginate in male ( Fig. 122e ). Male genitalia ( Fig. 122f–i ) as illustrated.

Distribution. India: Northeastern region (Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Sikkim, West Bengal); Bhutan; Nepal; Pakistan; China; Taiwan; Vietnam; Laos.

Prey / associated habitat. Macroilleis is a mycophagous genus of Coccinellini and probably feeds on powdery mildew fungi. Liu (1950) studied its life history in China on the mildew fungus Podosphaera leucotricha (Ellis & Everhart) Salmon. The report by Khan et al. (2006) recording M. hauseri as a predator of San José scale ( Comstockaspis perniciosa (Comstock)) is probably erroneous and it is quite possible that the ladybeetle was actually feeding on sooty mould fungi growing on the honeydew produced by the scale ( Li et al. 2010).

Collected on Alnus sp. (label data). Attracted to light (label data). It is known to feed on powdery mildews, including Phyllactinia corylea , Podosphaera leucotricha and Erysiphe cichoracearum ( Liu 1950; Li et al. 2010).

Notes. Macroilleis hauseri has a superficial resemblance to Calvia flaveola Booth and can be readily identified by the distinct elytral stripes that are often obsolete and not very clearly demarcated in the latter. The species described and illustrated as Macroilleis hauseri from Jammu & Kashmir by Kundoo (2019) and Pakistan by Rafi et al. (2005) and Hayat et al. (2017) is certainly C. flaveola . Khan et al. (2006) recorded it as a predator of San Jose scale which is likely to be based on a misidentification.

Seasonal occurrence. Collected during May–June (label data).

Notes. Miyatake (1965) and Li et al. (2010) described and illustrated this species in detail. Ren et al. (2009) and Yu (2010) included it in their conspectus on Chinese Coccinellidae .

Figures

FIGURE 122. Macroilleis hauseri (Mader): a, b. adult; c. adult, dorsal view; d. abdominal ventrites 5 and 6, female; e. abdominal ventrites 5 and 6, male; f–i. male genitalia: f. tegmen, lateral view; g. tegmen, ventral view; h. penis; i. penis apex (Photo credits: a. K.C. Sajan; b. Geetha Iyer).