Illeis confusa Timberlake

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 : 166-169

Illeis confusa Timberlake

( Figs 117 , 118 )

Illeis confusa Timberlake, 1943: 61 (Type locality: Hong Kong).—Bielawski 1961a: 361; Poorani 2002a: 334; Poorani & Lalitha 2018: 119.

Illeis chinensis Yablokov-Khnzoryan, 1978: 182 .— Iablokoff-Khnzorian 1982: 295; Synonymized by Yu 2010: 154.

Diagnosis. Length: 5.00–6.00 mm; width: 3.50–4.00 mm. Form elongate oval, dorsum moderately convex and glabrous. Externally similar to I. cincta but of variable coloration. Head and pronotum creamy white and elytra lemon yellow ( Figs 117a , 118g, h ) or uniform pinkish-fawn ( Fig. 117b ) or creamy yellow (118e, f, i), pronotum always with a pair of black spots. Male genitalia ( Fig. 117c–f ) and spermatheca ( Fig. 117g ) as illustrated.

Immature stages. Larva ( Fig. 118a ) yellow with four rows of black spots and thoracic black maculae as in other Illeis spp. but pupa characteristic ( Fig. 118b–d ), greyish yellow with two median pairs of black spots and lateral stripes followed by four rows of black spots on dorsal side.

Distribution. India (Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttarakhand, West Bengal); Nepal; Bhutan; Thailand; China; Hong Kong.

Prey / Associated habitat. Commonly found feeding on various powdery mildews infesting sunflower, castor, and several other plants. Found on shisham ( Dalbergia sissoo ) in Pakistan (Hayat et al. 2007). Found on mulberry in Nepal ( Sajan et al. 2019).

Seasonal occurrence. Collected during August–October in Pakistan ( Hayat et al. 2017).

Notes. It is similar to I. cincta and replaces the latter in the northern and eastern parts of India as the most common species of the genus. See Timberlake (1943), Bielawski (1961a), Ren et al. (2009) and Yu (2010) for more details.

Figures

FIGURE 117. Illeis confusa Timberlake: a, b. adult, variants; c–f. male genitalia: c. tegmen, ventral view; d. tegmen, lateral view; e. penis; f. penis apex; g. spermatheca.

FIGURE 118. Illeis confusa Timberlake, life stages: a. larva; b–d. pupa; e–i. adult, variants.