Coccinella undecimpunctata Linnaeus

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 : 91-94

Coccinella undecimpunctata Linnaeus

( Figs 59 , 60 )

Coccinella undecimpunctata Linnaeus, 1758: 366 (Lectotype, LSL; Type locality: Europe).— Mulsant 1846: 71; 1866: 85; Iablokoff-Khnzorian 1979: 66; 1982; 351; Pope 1989: 651; Poorani 2002a: 327; Ren et al. 2009: 190.

Coccinella (Dobzhanskia) undecimpunctata: Iablokoff-Khnzorian 1982: 71 .

Diagnosis. Length: 4.30–5.80 mm; width: 3.00–4.00 mm. Form ( Figs 59a, b , 60a, b ) elongate, broad oval, dorsum moderately convex and glabrous. Head black, with a pair of angular or oblique oval creamy yellow or white frontal spots, one on either side of inner margin of eyes. Pronotum black except anterolateral margins and corners white to creamy yellow. Scutellar shield black. Elytra orange yellow to red, with pale creamy yellow or whitish patches on either side of scutellar shield, one common scutellar spot and five black spots on each elytron in a 1-2-2 pattern as follows ( Fig. 59a, b ): one humeral, two in a transverse row at middle and two in a transverse row in apical third; spots often fused to form transverse, larger fasciae ( Fig. 60a, b ). Ventral side black except anterior part of prothoracic hypomeron, mesepimera, metepimera and elytral epipleura paler, yellow to yellowish brown, sometimes entire ventral side light yellowish brown. Abdominal postcoxal line incomplete with an associated line ( Fig. 60c ). Male genitalia ( Figs 59d–f , 60d–f ) and spermatheca ( Fig. 59c ) as illustrated.

Distribution. India: Most common in northwestern region (recorded from Assam, Bihar, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh); Pakistan; Nepal; Australia; New Zealand; Europe; Mediterranean region; North America.

Prey/associated habitat. Aphididae : Aphis craccivora Koch , Aphis gossypii Glover , Aphis nerii Boyer de Fonscolombe , Aphis pomi DeGeer , Aphis punicae Passerini , Brevicoryne brassicae (Linnaeus) , Hyalopterus pruni (Geoffroy) (as H. arundinis auctt.), Lipaphis pseudobrassicae (Kaltenbach) , Macrosiphoniella sanborni (Gillette) , Myzus persicae (Sulzer) , Rhopalosiphum maidis (Fitch) , Sitobion avenae (Fabricius) , Sitobion graminis Takahashi , Sitobion miscanthi (Takahashi) , indeterminate aphids on sugarcane. Lophopidae : Pyrilla perpusilla (Walker) . Margarodidae : Drosicha stebbingi Green. Lepidoptera : Crambidae : early instar larvae of Chilo partellus (Swinhoe) . Collected on apple, wheat, sugarcane, maize, plum, cotton, mustard, melon, cabbage, tobacco, berseem, cowpea, bottle gourd, Euonymus sp. , etc. (label data). Associated with powdery mildew infesting mulberry ( Khan & Nighat 1991).

Seasonal occurrence. Collected during April–September, and November–February from different parts of northern and northwestern India. In Kashmir, adults were observed to emerge in April and started overwintering in November ( Maqbool et al. 2020).

Natural enemies. Dinocampus coccinellae , Phalacrotophora fasciata , Tetrastichus coccinellae , Laboulbenia sp. ( Richerson 1970; Maqbool et al. 2018).

Notes. Belicek (1976) and Pope (1989) provided detailed descriptions of the adult with illustrations. Emden (1949) and Savoiskaya & Klausnitzer (1973) described and illustrated the larva. Rahman (1940) studied its biology. Ren et al. (2009) and Yu (2010) included it in their works on Chinese Coccinellini .

Figures

FIGURE 59. Coccinella undecimpunctata Linnaeus: a, b. adult, variants; c. spermatheca; d–e. male genitalia: d. tegmen, lateral view; e. tegmen, ventral view; f. penis.

FIGURE 60. Coccinella undecimpunctata Linnaeus: a, b. adult, variants; c. abdominal postcoxal line; d–f. male genitalia: d. tegmen, lateral view; e. tegmen, ventral view; f. penis.