Coccinella transversalis Fabricius

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 : 88

Coccinella transversalis Fabricius

( Figs 57 , 58 )

Coccinella transversalis Fabricius, 1781: 97 (Lectotype female, BMNH; Type locality: Coromandel); Poorani 2002a: 326; Ślipiński et al. 2020: 33.

Coccinella repanda Thunberg, 1781: 18 (Lectotype female, UUZM ZIU; Type locality: Cape of Good Hope).—Synonymized by Mulsant 1850: 1022; Crotch 1871: 3; 1874: 117; Korschefsky 1932: 483; Ślipiński et al. 2020: 33.

Coccinella contempta Boisduval, 1835: 592 (Type locality: Australia; type not found).—Synonymized by Mulsant 1850: 1022; Pope 1989: 652, 653; Ślipiński et al. 2020: 33.

Diagnosis. Length: 3.80–6.70 mm; width: 3.30–5.50 mm. Form elongate oval, convex. Head black with a pair of creamy yellow, subtriangular frontal spots, one on either side of inner margins of eyes. Pronotum black, anterolateral corners light cream. Scutellar shield black. Elytra bright carmine red or orange or yellow ( Figs 57d, e ; 58j–o ), with an oval subscutellar spot, a large trilobed spot on humeral callus, a transverse band at apical third not reaching lateral margin, and three smaller apical spots-one sutural and two lateral, usually fused to form a transverse marking; sutural line with an irregular black stripe. Elytral pattern variable with the markings in various states of confluence or reduction ( Fig. 58l ). Spermatheca ( Fig. 57g ) and male genitalia ( Fig. 57h–k ) as illustrated.

Immature stages. Life stages as illustrated ( Figs 57a–c , 58 ). Larva ( Figs 57a, b ; 58b–g ) dark greyish to black with pinkish / orange / yellowish spots. Pupa ( Figs 57c , 58h, i ) orange with black markings.

Distribution. One of the most common coccinellids of the region and found almost throughout India; Nepal; Bhutan; Sri Lanka; Myanmar; Southeast Asia; China; Asia Pacific; Australia; New Zealand.

Prey/associated habitat. Commonly associated with aphids infesting grasses. Also found on several crops like groundnut, rice, cotton, sunflower, safflower, mustard, cowpea, cabbage, maize, sorghum, watermelon, wheat, brinjal, bhendi, lucerne, etc. Smart weed ( Polygonum hydropiper ) harbours it in large numbers. Known hosts include: Aphididae : Acyrthosiphon pisum (Harris) , Aphis affinis Del Guercio , Aphis craccivora Koch , Aphis gossypii Glover , Aphis nerii Boyer de Fonscolombe , Aphis spiraecola Patch , Brachycaudus helichrysi (Kaltenbach) , Brevicoryne brassicae (Linnaeus) , Cervaphis quercus Takahashi , Cervaphis rappardi indica Basu , Lipaphis pseudobrassicae (Kaltenbach) , Macrosiphoniella yomogifoliae (Shinji) , Macrosiphum euphorbiae (Thomas) , Macrosiphum rosae (Linnaeus) , Melanaphis donacis (Passerini) , Melanaphis sacchari (Zehntner) , Myzus nicotianae Blackman , Myzus persicae (Sulzer) , Pentalonia nigronervosa Coquerel , Rhopalosiphum maidis (Fitch) , Sitobion rosaeiformis (Das) , Taoia indica (Ghosh & Raychaudhuri) , Aphis (Toxoptera) aurantii Boyer de Fonscolombe , Therioaphis ononidis (Kaltenbach) , Therioaphis trifolii (Monell) , Uroleucon compositae (Theobald) , Uroleucon sonchi (Linnaeus) ; Cicadellidae : Empoascanara indica (Datta) , Idioscopus clypealis (Lethierry) ; Ortheziidae : Orthezia insignis Browne ; Psyllidae : Diaphorina citri Kuwayama. Delphacidae : Nilaparvata lugens Stal. Lepidoptera : Noctuidae : Helicoverpa armigera (Ḩbner), Spodoptera litura (Fabricius) .

Seasonal occurrence. Present throughout the year with several overlapping generations. Active during July– November in south India.

Natural enemies. Dinocampus coccinellae (Schrank) , Tetrastichus sp. , Coccipolipus macfarlanei Husband , Coccipolipus sp.

Note. Kovář (2007) considered C. transversalis as a subspecies of C. leonina Fabricius, 1775 , a species endemic to New Zealand. This was followed by Abdolahi et al. (2018). However, Ślipiński et al. (2020) treated C. leonina and C. transversalis as distinct species in their revision of Australo-Pacific Coccinellini and the male genitalia of C. leonina are also different from those of C. transversalis .

Numerous papers have been published on its bioecology, some of the notable ones include: Puttarudriah & Channabasavanna (1953) —brief notes on biology, hosts; Kapur (1962)—geographical variations in elytral pattern, illustrations; Sasaji (1971), Pope (1989) —detailed description, illustrations; Debaraj & Singh (2000)—field recognition of life stages; Roy (1976), Joshi et al. (1999) —biology; Yu (2010) —description, illustrations of life stages.

Figures

FIGURE 57. Coccinella transversalis F.: a, b. larva; c. pupa; d, e. adult; f. abdominal postcoxal line; g. spermatheca; h–k. male genitalia: h. tegmen, lateral view; i. tegmen, ventral view; j. penis; k. penis apex.

FIGURE 58. Coccinella transversalis F., life stages: a. eggs; b–g. larva; h, i. pupa; j–o. live adult.