Oenopia smetanai Canepari

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 : 224-227

Oenopia smetanai Canepari

( Fig. 161 )

Oenopia smetanai Canepari, 1997: 53 (Holotype male, MHNG; Type locality: Nepal).— Poorani 2002a: 337; Poorani 2002b: 104.

Diagnosis. Length: 2.50–3.00 mm. Form small, broad oval, dorsum moderately convex, glabrous. Ground colour pale creamy yellow; pronotum with a pair of oblique oval median black spots above posterior margin; scutellar shield black; elytra with a vase-shaped elongate sutural macula and three black spots on each elytron in the nominate form ( Fig. 161c, e ), elytral pattern variable with the spots fused or reduced as illustrated ( Fig. 161a, b, d ). Male genitalia ( Fig. 161f–h ) as illustrated.

Distribution. India (Uttarakhand); Eastern Himalayas; Nepal; Bhutan.

Seasonal occurrence. Collected in April (label data).

Notes. Canepari (2012) synonymized O. smetanai with O. flavidbrunna , apparently unaware that Kovář (2007) treated O. flavidbrunna as a junior synonym of O. billieti which is also incorrect. Here Oenopia smetanai is removed from synonymy with Oenopia flavidbrunna Jing, 1986 and treated as a valid species (status revised) because the male genitalia of O. flavidbrunna illustrated by Jing (1986) are totally different from those of O. smetanai and the body outline of O. flavidbrunna illustrated by Yu (2010) is also more elongate oval and different from the short oval form of O. smetanai .

Figures

FIGURE 161. Oenopia smetanai Canepari: a–d. adult, variants (BMNH); e. nominate form, dorsal view; f–h. male genitalia: f. tegmen, lateral view; g. tegmen, ventral view; h. penis.