Oenopia 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 : 198-200

Genus Oenopia Mulsant

Oenopia Mulsant, 1850: 374 , 420; 1866: 279.—Crotch 1874: 158; Korschefsky 1932: 287; Timberlake 1943: 56; Iablokoff-Khnzorian 1979: 69; 1982: 398; Vandenberg 1996: 385. Type species: Oenopia cinctella Mulsant , by subsequent designation of Sicard 1907 c: 134. ( Korschefsky [1932] wrongly designated Oenopia (Aza) kirbyi Mulsant, 1850 as type).

Synharmonia Ganglbauer, 1899: 994 [as Coccinella (Synharmonia) ]. Type species: Coccinella conglobata Linnaeus, 1758 , by subsequent designation of Chapin 1965. Synonymized by Iablokoff-Khnzorian 1979: 69.

Protocaria Timberlake, 1943: 28 . Type species: Protocaria scalaris Timberlake, 1943 , by original designation. Synonymized by Iablokoff-Khnzorian 1979: 69.

Gyrocaria Timberlake, 1943: 39 .—Bielawski 1964b: 83. Type species: Coelophora guttata Blackburn, 1892 , by original designation. Synonymized by Iablokoff-Khnzorian 1979: 69.

Pseudoharmonia Savojskaja, 1963: 37.— Kuznetsov 1997: 186. Type species: Pseudoharmonia montana Savojskaja, 1963 , by monotypy. Synonymized by Iablokoff-Khnzorian 1979: 69.

Paramulsantina Hoang, 1982: 10 . Type species: Paramulsantina gratiosa Hoang, 1982 , by original designation. Synonymized by Jadwiszczak & Pokojowczyk 1990: 54–55.

Diagnosis. Body outline variable from rounded to broad oval to distinctly elongate, dorsum convex to flattened, glabrous. Head with anterior clypeal margin straight between lateral projections, inner margins of compound eyes almost straight. Antenna 11-segmented, slightly shorter than head capsule with the apical three antennomeres forming a compact club. Scutellar shield broader than long, triangular. Prothoracic hypomeron with anterior inner corners shallowly foveate or not. Prosternal carinae present. Anterior margin of mesoventrite distinctly to very shallowly emarginate. Middle and hind tibiae with a pair of spurs. Elytral epipleura foveolate to receive the tips of mid-and / or hind femora. Abdominal postcoxal line incomplete, with an oblique dividing lateral line. Spermatheca characteristic with a highly elongate, apically swollen ramus and a distinct nodulus, a short, flexible sperm duct and a distinct, sclerotized, diagnostically shaped infundibulum (with the sole exception of O. signatella ). Male genitalia with penis guide apically upturned and medially notched or more or less subtruncate, parameres arched. Penis with a well-developed capsule and variously modified apex.

Distribution. A moderately large genus, with ~30 species distributed in Europe, Asiatic Russia, Africa, India, Sri Lanka China, Japan, Philippines, New Guinea and Australia ( Ślipiński et al. 2020).

Affinities. Tomaszewska et al. (2021) included it in the Coccinella- group of genera and found it to be a distinct genus strongly supported in molecular analyses.

Included species. It is one of the largest genera of Coccinellini of the Indian region and at present, 15 species are known, most of them from the northeastern region. Only O. guerini (Mulsant) (= Oenopia walteri (Sicard)) has been recorded from South India.