Platynaspis lewisii Crotch, 1874

Poorani, J., 2023, - A-review-of-Platynaspini- (Coleoptera: - Coccinellidae) - of-the-Indian-subcontinent including-description-of-a-new-genus-from-north-eastern-India-and-Bangladesh, Zootaxa 5256 (4), pp. 301-328 : 306-307

Platynaspis lewisii Crotch

( Fig. 4a, b )

Platynaspis lewisii Crotch, 1874: 198 .— Korschefsky 1932; Mader 1955: 813.

Phymatosternus lewisi: Miyatake 1961: 168 .— Sasaji 1971: 218–219; Poorani 2002: 314.

Description.­ Length: 3.00– 3.50 mm; width: 2.50–3.00 mm. Form ( Fig. 4a, b ) almost hemispherical, dorsum strongly convex and pubescent. Ground colour reddish brown, head yellowish in male, piceous to black in female. Pronotum piceous black with an obtriangular spot on the lateral side. Scutellar shield black. Elytra reddish brown, margins more or less black, each elytron with two spots, one placed posterior to humeral callus and transverse, the other one larger, distinctly longer than wide; sutural band starting below scutellar shield, gradually wider up to the basal fourth, then narrowed towards apex, marginal bands broadened around middle. Underside largely black except abdomen reddish brown. Genitalia not studied.

Material­examined.­ NE Laos, Hua Phan Prov., Ban Saleui, Phou Pan (Mt.), N20°12’ E104°01’, 1300-1900m, 11.iv.-15.v.2012 / BMNH { E}, 2012-14, C. Holzschuh, several specimens ( BMNH) .

­ Distribution. Japan. China. Taiwan. Myanmar. India.

Note. More colour variants were described by Miyatake (1961) with illustrations of the genitalia. Specimens examined in the collections of BMNH are illustrated here ( Fig. 4a, b ).

Prey­/­associated­habitat. Kaneko (2007) recorded Platynaspis lewisii as feeding on ants tending brown citrus aphids.

Figures

FIGURE­4. a, b. Platynaspis lewisii Crotch; c. Platynaspis stictica Crotch; d. Platynaspis trimaculata Weise (identified material from BMNH).