Bulaea lichatschovii (Hummel)

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 : 45-46

Bulaea lichatschovii (Hummel)

( Figs 26 , 27 )

Coccinella lichatschovii Hummel, 1827: 43 (Type locality: ‘Eurasia mer.’).

Bulaea flavidula Mulsant, 1850: 73 (lectotype; UCCC).— Gordon 1987: 12 (lectotype designation). Synonymized by Crotch 1874: 105.

Bulaea lichatschovii: Crotch, 1874: 105 ; Kapur & Bhaumik 1966: 446; Poorani 2002a: 319; Ren et al. 2009: 178; Yu 2010: 139; Kovář 2007: 600.

Diagnosis. Length: 4.50–5.50 mm; width: 3.50–4.20 mm. Form elongate oval, dorsum moderately convex and glabrous. Head ( Fig. 27a ) yellow with a pair of black spots or a larger black basal macula. Pronotum yellow with 6–7 black spots. Each elytron with nine black spots ( Fig. 26a ), spots of variable size, often lighter in colour or large and confluent with one another. Spermatheca ( Fig. 27g, h ) as illustrated.

Distribution. India (Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh); Central and West Asia; Afghanistan; Mediterranean region; North and Central Africa.

Prey / associated habitat. Collected on beetroot (label data). F̧rsch (1967) reported that it feeds on the pollen of Chenopodiaceae . Ozbek & Cetin (1991) reported sugar beet, lentil and alfalfa as its host plants. Ali et al. (2014) recorded it as feeding on different species of aphids on wheat and mustard pollen in the deserts of Sindh Province of Pakistan, but rarely from agricultural fields. The label data of specimens of B. lichatschovii examined from Rajasthan also show Chenopodium sp. as the host plant. Iqbal et al. (2017) illustrated the colour morphs of this species in Pakistan and recorded three host plants ( Krascheninnikovia ceratoides ( Caryophyllales : Amaranthaceae ), Artemisia vulgaris and A. maritima ( Asterales : Asteraceae )).

Seasonal occurrence. Collected in April ( Kapur & Bhaumik 1966); June–August ( Iqbal et al. 2017).

Notes. Kapur & Bhaumik (1966) recorded it from Rajasthan and provided notes on its distribution. Ren et al. (2009) and Yu (2010) illustrated the habitus and the genitalia from China. Iqbal et al. (2017) recorded it from Pakistan.

Figures

FIGURE 26. Bulaea lichatschovii: a. adult, dorsal view; b. antenna; c. maxilla; d. abdominal postcoxal line; e, f. female genitalia: spermatheca.

FIGURE 27. Bulaea lichatschovii: a. head; b. abdominal postcoxal line; c. apical ventrites, female; d. prosternal process; e. leg; f. tarsal claw; g. female genitalia; h. spermatheca, enlarged.