Novius cardinalis (Mulsant, 1850)

Ansi, Amin Al, Alkhalaf, Areej A., Fadl, Hassan, Rasool, Iftekhar & Dhafer, Hathal Al, 2020, An annotated checklist of Coccinellidae (Insecta, Coleoptera) with eight new records from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ZooKeys 1006, pp. 35-89 : 35

Novius cardinalis (Mulsant, 1850)

Vedalia cardinalis Mulsant, 1850: 906.

Remark.

This species became famous at the end of the 19th century when it was introduced from its native country Australia to California for the control of cottony cushion scale ( I. purchasi ) in citrus orchards, producing the first major success in biological control. This species is now introduced to all continents, except Antarctica ( Raimundo and van Harten 2000).

Material examined.

Asir: Khamis Mushait, Wadi Baisha, 27.IV.2011, SN, Al Ansi, A., 1♀; Baha: Al Mandaq, Wadi Turubah, 20°14.37'N, 41°15.23'E, 3.VI.2012, BS, Al Ansi, A., 2♂1♀; Raghdan, 20°34.25'N, 41°45.11'E, 16.V.2010, SN, Al Dhafer et al., 1♀; Rahwan, 20°04.03'N, 41°27.01'E, 2272 m, 24.V.2013, BS, Al Ansi et al., 2exs; King Saud Rd., 20°00.28'N, 41°27.91'E, 2132 m, 25.V.2013, BS, Al Ansi et al., 3exs.

Local distribution.

Specimens of this species were collected from Asir and Baha provinces and previously reported from Najran by Abu-Thuraya (1982).

World distribution.

Asia: AE, FUG, HAI, GUA, HEN, HKG, HUB, IN, PAL, JA, JIA, JIX, JO, PA, SC, SCH, SHA, SHG, TAI, TR, YUN, and ZHE; Europe: AL, BU, CR, FR, GR, IT, MA, PT, SP, and TR; North Africa: CI, AG, EG, LB, MO, and TU; AFR, AUR, NAR, NTR, and ORR ( Kovář 2007).