Exochomus Redtenbacher, 1843

Biranvand, Amir, Tomaszewska, Wioletta, Li, Wenjing, Nicolas, Vincent, Shakarami, Jahanshir, Fekrat, Lida & Hesami, Shahram, 2017, Review of the tribe Chilocorini Mulsant from Iran (Coleoptera, Coccinellidae), ZooKeys 712, pp. 43-68 : 48-49

Exochomus Redtenbacher, 1843

Exochomus Redtenbacher, 1843:11. Type species: Coccinella quadripustulata Linnaeus, 1758, by subsequent designation of Thomson, 1859.

Diagnosis.

Body length 2.8-5.5 mm. Dorsal body glabrous; elytra black, brown, or yellow, often with contrasting red or yellow markings; sometimes (in lighter coloured species) with black stripes along lateral margins of elytra. Antenna composed of 10 antennomeres, minute terminal antennomere embedded in penultimate one; pronotal basal margin completely bordered with submarginal line; prosternal process narrow, truncate apically, without carinae; elytral epipleura clearly narrowing, without foveae; abdominal postcoxal lines complete or nearly so, semicircular, reaching to inner end of lateral line; meso- and metatibiae each with two apical spurs; tarsal claws with or without basal tooth (after Li et al. 2015).

Ecology.

Most species of this genus are aphidophagous and coccidophagous ( Gordon 1985, Kovář 1995, Magro et al. 2010). Nontheless, there are some reports about some species of the genus feeding on aleyrodids e.g., Exochomus bimaculosus Mulsant which feeds on Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) ( Yigit 1992, Leite et al. 2003, Hodek and Honěk 2009).