Brumoides lineatus (Weise)

POORANI, J., 2023, An illustrated guide to the lady beetles (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) of the Indian Subcontinent. Part II. Tribe Chilocorini, Zootaxa 5378 (1), pp. 1-108 : 19-25

Brumoides lineatus (Weise)

( Figs 13–16 )

Brumus lineatus Weise, 1885a: 229 ; 1900 a: 422.— Korschefsky 1932: 265.

Brumus lineatus var. ruficollis Weise, 1885a: 230 .— Korschefsky 1932: 265.

Brumoides lineatus : Miyatake 1970a: 305; Hoáng 1983: 23; Poorani 2002: 310.

Diagnosis. Length: 2.50–3.20 mm; width: 2.00– 2.50 mm. Form short to slightly more elongate oval, body outline broader than that of B. suturalis , dorsum convex, apparently glabrous but with short, erect hairs sparsely distributed on elytral disc and more visibly seen on lateral margins. Head and pronotum yellowish-orange, elytra with three black vittae, discal elytral vittae distinctly broader than that in B. suturalis , half as wide as or more than half as wide as width of elytron; punctures on elytra dense, separated by 3–6 diameters on disc, distinctly coarser, denser and closer on lateral margins. Ventral side with antenna, mouthparts, prosternum, epipleura and fore legs yellowish, middle and hind legs dark brown to black except tarsi lighter, yellowish brown; abdominal ventrites 1-3 dark brown to black, apical ventrites yellowish brown. Male genitalia ( Figs 13j–p , 14d–m , 15d–f ), female genitalia ( Figs 14n , 15g ) and spermatheca ( Figs 14o, p , 15h ) as illustrated.

Distribution. India (Arunachal Pradesh; Assam; Bihar; Karnataka; Kerala; Meghalaya; Uttar Pradesh; Uttarakhand; West Bengal); Sri Lanka; Bangladesh; Nepal; Thailand; Myanmar.

It is widely distributed in India, but much less common in peninsular India and appears to be more widely distributed in the northern (Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar) and north-eastern regions (Arunachal Pradesh; Assam; Meghalaya; West Bengal).

Prey/associated habitat. Collected in association with whiteflies infesting okra, eggplant (label data); collected on rice (label data); Aleuroclava pentatuberculata (Sundarraj & David) ( Aleyrodidae ), wrongly identified as B. suturalis ( Dey 2016) .

Notes. It is a highly variable species, particularly with respect to the width of the elytral stripes and the male genitalia ( Figs 13j–p , 14d–m , 15d–f ) also show some intraspecific variation. Weise (1885a) stated that B. lineatus (originally described from ‘Birma’) had a black head. Miyatake (1970a) redescribed B. lineatus with illustrations of the habitus and male genitalia but he did not study the type material of B. lineatus . He also stated that the head was entirely black in female and yellowish testaceous with the vertex narrowly blackish in male.

All the specimens studied from peninsular, north and north-eastern regions of India have a yellow to orange head and pronotum and not even a single specimen with black head and pronotum was examined. The abdominal postcoxal line and the genitalia (both male and female) of the Indian material from all these regions were found to be more or less similar with some minor variations that can be only intraspecific. Ren et al. (2009) also illustrated B. lineatus from China. Some records of B. suturalis from north-eastern and eastern India (e. g. Dey 2016) may be based on misidentifications of B. lineatus because both species coexist in these regions.

Figures

FIGURE 13. Brumoides lineatus (Weise): a–c. adult, variants; d. head; e. antenna; f–i. abdominal postcoxal line, variations; j–p. male genitalia: j, n. tegmen, ventral view; m. tegmen, lateral view; k, o. penis; l, p. penis apex.

FIGURE 14. Brumoides lineatus (Weise) (from South India): a. abdomen, b, c. abdominal postcoxal line; d–h, i–m. male genitalia; d, i. tegmen, lateral view; e, j. tegmen, ventral view; f, k. penis; g, l. penis capsule; h, m. penis apex; n. female genitalia; o, p. spermatheca.

FIGURE 15. Brumoides lineatus (Weise), from north-east India: a. adult, dorsal view; b, c. abdominal postcoxal line; d–f. male genitalia: d. tegmen, lateral view; e. tegmen, ventral view; f. penis; g. female genitalia; h. spermatheca.

FIGURE 16. Brumoides lineatus (Weise), life stages: a–d. larva; e. pupa; f–j. adult.