Protothea Weise

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 : 251-253

Genus Protothea Weise

Protothea Weise, 1898: 226 .

Type species: Protothea firma Weise , by monotypy.

Nedina Hoang, 1983a: 150 . Type species: Nedina flavescens Hoang , by original designation. Synonymized by Poorani & Ślipiński 2005: 329.

Diagnosis. Form short oval to almost circular, dorsum moderately convex and glabrous. Head without ventral antennal grooves. Antenna with terminal antennomere elongate oval. Prosternum with a large and prominent pyriform median process distinctly elevated from rest of prosternum and forming a chin piece, prosternal process with complete carinae, densely pubescent. Female genitalia with styli strongly reduced and barely visible.

Distribution. India, Myanmar, Vietnam.

Affinities. Tomaszewska et al. (2021) included it in the Coccinella- group of genera and recovered it as a sister group to a group of genera comprising Anegleis , Micraspis (Asian and Australian species), Xanthadalia, Declivittata and African and Malagasy species of Micraspis . Protothea comprises some of the smallest members of Coccinellini ( Tomaszewska et al. 2021) and is readily separated from the other Coccinellinae of the Oriental Region by the unusual, characteristic structure of the prosternum, and the elongate terminal antennomere, the former character being unique and diagnostic. The large and pyriform process, on a visibly higher plane than the rest of the prosternum, is somewhat similar to that in the species of Pseudaspidimerus Kapur, 1948 (tribe Aspidimerini ) and Propiptus Weise, 1901 (tribe Scymnini ), but these genera have a densely pubescent dorsum and very short antennae. Poorani & Ślipiński (2005) synonymized Nedina Hoang with Protothea and the same nomenclatural act was later repeated by Kovář (2007).

Indian species. Two species, Protothea decemguttata (Hoang) and P. quadripunctata (Mulsant) , are known from the northeastern region of India.