Micraspis allardi (Mulsant), 1866

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 : 179

Micraspis allardi (Mulsant)

( Fig. 126 )

Lemnia allardi Mulsant, 1866: 249 (Lectotype, UCCC; Type locality: Northern India).

Verania allardi: Crotch 1874: 177 ; Korschefsky 1932: 307.

Micraspis allardi: Iablokoff-Khnzorian 1982: 510 ; Hoang 1983: 59; Poorani 2002: 335; Yu 2010: 127; Poorani et al. 2023: 467 .

Verania malaccensis Crotch, 1874: 177 (Lectotype, UCCC; Type locality: Gilolo).

Verania allardi var. malaccensis: Weise 1912: 115 ; Korschefsky 1932: 307.

Diagnosis. Length: 3.70–5.20 mm; width: 3.36–4.00 mm. Form ( Fig. 126a–d ) subcircular, moderately convex. Head creamy yellow to orange-yellow. Pronotum creamy yellow or pinkish with a pair of black spots on either side of scutellar shield on posterior margin. Ground colour of elytra bright pink in live specimens ( Fig. 126a–d ), yellow in preserved specimens, with four black spots, anterior pair transverse, sometimes quite narrowly so, posterior pair round to suboval, elytral suture with a black stripe; lateral margins of elytra transparent; sometimes elytral spots enlarged or smaller, rarely reduced or almost absent. Ventral side yellowish, mesepimeron white, metaventrite and abdominal ventrites dark pitchy black, legs yellowish brown except middle and hind femora brown to black in apical half. Prosternal process with carinae extending to the middle of prosternum. Abdominal postcoxal line ( Fig. 126e ) incomplete laterally. Male genitalia ( Fig. 126f–i ) as illustrated.

Distribution. India: Commonly collected in northern India, less common in peninsular India (Kerala, Bihar, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim); Pakistan; Sri Lanka; Bhutan; Nepal; Afghanistan; Myanmar; China; Indonesia; The Philippines; New Guinea.

Prey/associated habitat. Hemiptera : Aphididae : Aphis craccivora , Aphis fabae Scopoli , Aphis gossypii Glover , Lipaphis pseudobrassicae , Myzus persicae (Sulzer) . Lophopidae : Eggs of Pyrilla perpusilla (Walker) . Collected commonly on wheat, rice, maize, sugarcane, sorghum, and grasses; also associated with aphids on brinjal, cowpea, cabbage, potato, and mustard ( Omkar & Pervez 1999). Collected on custard apple, walnut, berseem and cucumber in Pakistan ( Hayat et al. 2017).

Seasonal occurrence. Collected during September–December (in large numbers), and February–March in north India; November (northeastern India). Found during April–October in Pakistan ( Hayat et al. 2017).

Notes. This species has been treated in detail by Kapur (1973), Iablokoff-Khnzorian (1982), Ren et al. (2009), Yu (2010) and most recently, by Ślipiński et al. (2020).

Figures

FIGURE 126. Micraspis allardi (Mulsant): a–c. live adult; d. adult, dorsal view; e. abdominal postcoxal line; f–i. male genitalia: f. tegmen, lateral view; g. tegmen, ventral view; h. penis; i. penis apex.