Phrynocaria circumusta (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 : 229-231

Phrynocaria circumusta (Mulsant)

( Figs 163 , 164 )

Artemis circumusta Mulsant, 1850: 389 (Type material, MHNG; Type locality: Hong Kong).

Coelophora circumusta: Crotch 1874: 150 ; Korschefsky 1932: 291; Poorani 2002a: 328.

Lemnia (Artemis) circumusta: Iablokoff-Khnzorian 1982: 233 .

Lemnia circumusta: Ren et al. 2009: 206 .

Lemnia (Neoartemis) circumusta: Ukrainsky 2006 (replacement name for Artemis , preoccupied elsewhere).

Phrynocaria circumusta: Poorani et al. 2021: 119 .

Diagnosis. Length:5.28–6.00mm;width: 4.50–5.30mm.Form( Figs163a , 164a )almost round,dorsum hemispherical, strongly convex and glabrous. Head and pronotum blood red or yellow. Elytra black with a pair of red anterior maculae of variable size on anterior margin ( Fig. 163a ), sometimes elytra largely reddish in anterior half, median area narrowly black and joined with a larger black macula occupying the apical one-fourth ( Fig. 163b ); rarely elytra reddish with four black spots arranged in a 1-2-1 pattern as illustrated ( Fig. 164a, b ). Abdominal postcoxal line ( Fig. 163h ) incomplete. Male genitalia ( Fig. 163j, k ) and spermatheca ( Figs 163i , 164c ) as illustrated.

Distribution. India (Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Kerala, Manipur, Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh); Nepal; Hong Kong; China; Taiwan; Thailand; Vietnam.

Prey/associated habitat. Adults collected on mango, sorghum (‘cholam’) ( Subramaniam 1924b), and pine (data label).

Seasonal occurrence. Collected during April, June, and September (label data).

Notes. Subramaniam (1924b) gave brief notes on its distribution in India. It was also treated by Mader (1937), Rao & So (1967) and Poorani et al. (2021). Some of the records of P. circumusta from South India appear to be suspect in view of its resemblance to P. perfida Poorani , a species recently described from South India ( Poorani et al. 2021).

Figures

FIGURE 163. Phrynocaria circumusta (Mulsant): a, b. adult, dorsal view; c. adult, lateral view; d. head; e. antenna; f. maxilla; g. prosternal process and mesoventrite; h. abdominal postcoxal line; i. spermatheca; j, k. male genitalia: j. tegmen, ventral view; k. penis.

FIGURE 164. Phrynocaria circumusta (Mulsant), spotted variant: a. adult, dorsal view; b. adult, lateral view; c. spermatheca.