Propylea japonica

Propylea japonica (Thunberg)

(Fig. 175)

Coccinella japonica Thunberg, 1781: 12 (Type locality: Japan).

Propylea japonica: Lewis 1896: 30; Poorani 2002a: 339; Ren et al. 2009: 228.

Propylaea japonica: Mader 1933: 262–263; Kamiya 1965a: 44–46.

Propylea quatuordecimpunctata japonica: Timberlake 1943: 28.

Coccinella tetraspilota Hope, 1843: 64 (nec Coccinella tetraspilota Hope, 1831).—Booth & Pope 1989: 366.

Diagnosis. Length: 3.00– 4.70 mm; width: 2.40–3.20 mm. Form elongate oval, moderately convex. Ground colour creamy yellow to yellow with black maculae on pronotum and elytra. Pronotum yellow, with a large transverse median black marking reaching hind margin. Elytral pattern variable as in P. dissecta, with an anchor-shaped macula (Fig. 175a, b) that is variously reduced with only a black spot on humeral callus on each elytron and an anteriorly broader stripe along sutural line (or) completely yellow with only a sutural black stripe. Abdominal ventrites medially black, abdominal postcoxal line (Fig. 175c) incomplete. Female genitalia (Fig. 175d) and spermatheca (Fig. 175e) as illustrated.

It can be differentiated from Propylea dissecta (Mulsant) by its more oblong and distinctly narrower body outline with less explanate elytral margins, usually smaller size and the male genitalia. The periscutellar yellow spots are usually elongate and subrectangular in P. japonica compared to the elongate oval shaped spots in P. dissecta.

Distribution.? India; Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Laos, China, Japan, Korea). As mentioned earlier, records of P. japonica from mainland India appear to be suspect or mainly based on wrong identification of P. dissecta.

Prey/associated habitat. Primarily aphidophagous, recorded as a predator of numerous hosts.

Notes. I have never examined P. japonica from mainland India and it is most likely to be distributed in the remote parts of northeastern India that remain poorly explored. Sasaji (1971) has given a detailed description and Ren et al. (2009) also illustrated it.