Menochilus sexmaculatus (Fabricius)

Nattier, Romain, Jourdan, Hervé, Mille, Christian & Chazeau, Jean, 2015, An annotated checklist of the Coccinellidae (Coleoptera) from New Caledonia, Zootaxa 4058 (3), pp. 301-331 : 308

Menochilus sexmaculatus (Fabricius)

Coccinella sexmaculata Fabricius, 1781: 96 .

Coccinella quadriplagiata Schönherr, 1808: 195 —synonymized by Nakane & Araki 1959: 50. Cheilomenes sexmaculata: Dejean 1833: 435 .

Orcus mollipes Oliff, 1895: 30 —synonymized by Pope 1988: 646. Chilomenes hiugaensis Takizawa, 1917: 221 —synonymized by Sasaji 1971: 285. Menochilus sexmaculatus: Timberlake 1943: 40 .

In New Caledonia, it is known from Loyalty Islands (Lifou, Maré) and a few localities on Grande Terre, where it has been recorded from Tao area (northeast coast). It is a widespread species from India to Japan, Western Australia and also Lord Howe and was introduced in North America . This is a beneficial ladybug, known to have a prey range of various aphids ( Agarwala & Yasuda 2000; Gautam 1989; Veeravel & Baskaran 1997), a few coccids, a psyllid and a Lepidoptera (Chilozonellus) ( Agarwala et al. 2001) . According to its diet preferences and wide distribution, we consider it an introduced species in New Caledonia.

Material examined. NEW CALEDONIA: Iles Loyauté, Maré ( ONNC); Iles Loyauté, Lifou ( ONNC); Tao, 29.xi.1986 (J. Chazeau rec.) ( ONNC).