Phrynocaria unicolor

Phrynocaria unicolor (Fabricius, 1792) (Figs. 7, 8b) Coccinella unicolor Fabricius, 1792: 267. Coelophora unicolor: Mulsant 1850: 413; 1866: 275.— Crotch 1874: 54.— Korschefsky 1932: 297. Lemnia (Microlemnia) unicolor: Iablokoff-Khnzorian 1982: 262. Phrynocaria unicolor: Yu 2010: 80–82. Coccinella congener Billberg, in Schönherr 1808: 179.—Synonymized by Yu 2010: 80. Coelophora congener: Crotch 1874: 151. Phrynocaria congener: Ren et al. 2009: 226. Coelophora caliginosa Mulsant, 1850: 414.— Crotch 1874: 151.— Weise 1892: 414.— Korschefsky 1932: 297. Coelophora dumortieri Mulsant, 1866: 260.— Crotch 1874: 151.— Weise 1902: 21.— Korschefsky 1932: 297. Coelophora dupasquieri Mulsant, 1866: 261.— Crotch 1874: 151.— Weise 1902: 21.— Korschefsky 1932: 297. Coelophora romani Mulsant, 1866: 273.— Crotch 1874: 160 (as Dysis).— Weise 1892: 22, 24.— Korschefsky 1932: 297. Coelophora petrequini Mulsant, 1866: 276.— Crotch 1874: 154.— Weise 1892: 22, 24.— Korschefsky 1932: 297. Coelophora versipellis Crotch, 1874: 151.— Weise 1892: 20.— Korschefsky 1932: 297. Dysis saundersii Crotch, 1874: 160.— Weise 1892: 22.— Korschefsky 1932: 297. Phrynocaria nigrilimbata Jing, 1986: 307.—Synonymized by Yu 2010: 80. Diagnosis: Length 3.42–4.62 mm, width 3.12–4.20 mm. Form (Figs. 7 a–e) round, hemispherical. Highly variable with numerous variations in elytral pattern and several intermediate forms. Typical form uniformly reddish brown on both sides; at least eight variants or varieties named, commonly found variants (Figs. 7 a–e, 8b) as illustrated. Male genitalia (Figs. 7 i–k) are diagnostic. Distribution: India: Northern and eastern regions (Assam; Bihar; Delhi; Himachal Pradesh; Pondicherry; Jharkhand; Odisha; Uttar Pradesh; Andamans). China. Thailand. Biology / hosts: Associated with whiteflies (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) such as Aleurolobus barodensis (Maskell) on sugarcane (Kapur 1940); Dialeuropora decempuncta (Quaintance & Baker) infesting mulberry. Abundant in the oak forests of northeastern region, feeds on Tuberculatus indicus Ghosh (Aphididae) on Quercus acutissima (Shantibala & Singh 1991). It is known to be predatory on the nymphs and adults of the aphid, Schizoneuraphis himalayensis on Persea bombycina in Assam, northeastern India (Easwarareddy & Rajan 2011). Taxonomic notes: Phrynocaria unicolor is a highly variable species with many colour forms and Weise (1892) listed the synonyms, varieties, colour morphs and variants of this species and Korschefsky (1932) also followed this in his catalogue. One female of D. saundersii Crotch (Fig. 8b) (BMNH, London; examined) identified by R. G. Booth through comparison with Crotch’s lectotype (labelled as Coelophora saundersii) was found to be conspecific with P. unicolor as stated by Weise (1892), Korschefsky (1932) and Mader (1937). The type locality of D. saundersii is ‘Lokardaga’ (Type label), located in the present-day Jharkhand state in eastern India. In D. saundersii, the head and pronotum are yellow and the elytra are brownish except lateral borders and apices yellow, with four yellow spots arranged in a 2-2 pattern, first pair touching anterior margin, second pair below midline. Lemnia circumvelata Mulsant, 1850, a replacement name for Coccinella cincta Hope, 1831 described from Nepal, is most likely a synonym of P. unicolor because it is similar to var. cinctipennis Weise, 1892 of P. unicolor. Booth & Pope (1989) designated a lectotype for C. circumvelata and Hope’s type specimen of C. circumvelata (Fig. 8a) (BMNH, examined) looks like a Phrynocaria. It has yellowish head and pronotum with a large black macula on pronotum occupying most of the discal area and yellowish-reddish elytra with black lateral borders about ¼ th as wide as each elytron. Similar variants of P. unicolor from eastern India have been examined (Fig. 7d). There is also a rare variant of P. circumusta with black lateral borders of elytra as in C. circumvelata. However, C. circumvelata is not synonymized because the type could not be dissected for confirmation. Common colour variants of P. unicolor were illustrated by Mader (1937), Kapur (1967), Yu (2010) and Ren et al. (2009).
Published as part of Poorani, J., Sankararaman, H. & Anusree, S. S., 2021, A review of Indian species of Phrynocaria Timberlake (Coleoptera, Coccinellidae) with notes on synonymy and a new species from South India, hitherto misidentified as Coelophora circumusta (Mulsant), pp. 117-133 in Zootaxa 4926 (1) on pages 128-131, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4926.1.8, http://zenodo.org/record/4500738
{"references":["Fabricius, J. C. (1792) Entomologia Systematica Emendata et Aucta. Secundum Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, Adjectis, Synonimis, Locis, Observationibus, Descriptionibus. Vol. I. Part 1. Impensis Christ. Gottl. Proft., Hafniae, 330 pp. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 122153","Mulsant, E. (1850) Species des Coleopteres Trimeres Securipalpes. Annales des Sciences Physiques et Naturelles, d'Agriculture et d'Industrie, publiees par la Societe nationale d'Agriculture, etc., de Lyon, Deuxieme Serie, 2, 1 - 1104. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 8953","Mulsant, E. (1866) Monographie des Coccinellides. 1 re Partie Coccinelliens. Savy et Deyrolle, Paris, 294 pp.","Crotch, G. R. (1874) A revision of the coleopterous family Coccinellidae. E. W. Janson, London, 311 pp. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 8975","Korschefsky, R. (1932) Coleopterorum Catalogus. Pars 120. Coccinellidae II. W. Junk, Berlin, 435 pp.","Iablokoff-Khnzorian, S. M. (1982) Les Coccinelles Coleopteres-Coccinellidae. Tribu Coccinellini des regions Palearctique et Orientale. Societe nouvelle des editions Boubee, Paris, 568 pp.","Yu, G. (2010) Chinese Lady Beetles (The Subfamily Coccinellinae). China Scientific Press, Beijing, 180 pp. [in Chinese]","Schonherr, C. J. (1808) Synonymia Insectorum, oder Versuch einer Synonymie Aller bischer bekkanten Insecten nach Fabricii Systema Eleutheratorum etc. geordnet. Erster Band. Eleutherata oder Kafer. Zweuter Theil. Spercheus-Cryptocephalus. Carl Friedr. Marquard, Stockholm, 424 pp.","Ren, S. X., Wang, X. M., Pang, H., Peng, Z. Q. & Zeng, T. (2009) Colored pictorial handbook of ladybird beetles in China. Science Press, Beijing, 336 pp. [in Chinese]","Weise, J. (1892) Les Coccinellides du Chota-Nagpore. Annales de la Societe Entomologique du Belgique, 36, 16 - 30.","Weise, J. (1902) Coccinelliden aus der Sammlung des Ungarischen National-Museums. Termeszetrajzi Fuzetek, 25, 489 - 520.","Jing, X. I. (1986) A new species of Phrynocaria Timberlake (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae). Acta Zootaxonomica Sinica, 11 (3), 307 - 308.","Kapur, A. P. (1940) A note on the ladybird beetles (Coccinellidae) predating upon the cane whitefly, Aleurolobus barodensis Maskell. Current Science, 9, 134.","Shantibala, K. & Singh, T. K. (1991) Studies on the vertical distribution of aphidophagous coccinellids (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) of Manipur and Nagaland. Journal of Aphidology, 5, 39 - 43.","Mader, L. (1937) Evidenz der palaarktischen Coccinelliden und ihrer Aberrationen in Wort und Bild. Entomologische Nachrichten, Troppau, 11, 41 - 66.","Hope, F. W. (1831) Synopsis of the new species of Nepal insects in the collection of Major General Hardwicke. In: Gray, J. E. (Ed.), The Zoological Miscellany. Treutel, Wurtz and Co., London, pp. 21 - 32.","Booth, R. G. & Pope, R. D. (1989) A review of the type material of Coccinellidae (Coleoptera) described by F. W. Pope and by E. Mulsant in the Hope Entomological Collections, Oxford. Entomologica Scandinavica, 20 (3), 343 - 370. https: // doi. org / 10.1163 / 187631289 X 00366","Kapur, A. P. (1967) The Coccinellidae (Coleoptera) of the Andamans. Proceedings of the National Institute of Sciences of India, 32 (B), 148 - 189. [1966]"]}