Megalocaria dilatata

Megalocaria dilatata
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Coleoptera
Suborder:
Polyphaga
Superfamily:
Coccinelloidea
Family:
Coccinellidae
Genus:
Megalocaria
Species:
M. dilatata
Binomial name
Megalocaria dilatata
(Fabricius, 1775)
Synonyms
  • Coccinella dilatata Fabricius, 1775
  • Caria dilatata Mulsant
  • Anisolemnia dilatata Korschefsky

Megalocaria dilatata, is a species of lady beetle native to India, Sri Lanka and Bhutan.[1][2][3][4][5]

Description

Body length is about 11 mm.This large ladybeetle has a circular outline and hemispherical strongly convex dorsum. Body bright orange to yellowish. There are ten black spots on elytra (five in each elytron). Spots are arranged in three rows of 1:2:2 fashion.[6] Lateral margin of pronotum and elytral anterolateral margins are black. There is a diamond-shaped elongate spot on either side of inner margin of eyes on head. Scutellum totally black. Elytral marginal portion is much darker than the rest of the elytra. Elytra glabrous and finely punctate. Elytral interspace covered with micro sculptures. Ventrally, there is a prominent black spot found at the line of metasternum, and elytral epipleuron. Pronotum faint orange to yellow in color with two prominent black spots which are located on either side of scutellum.[7]

Biology

Body length is about 2.5 to 2.8 mm. Mating takes place in the morning. After the mating, female lays about 6 to 34 eggs in clutches. Egg stage is about 4 days. Larva undergo 4 instar stages, which lasted for about 9 days. The pre-pupal stage is about 2 days and the pupal stage is 3 days. The lifespan of adult female is about 55 days, whereas male has a lifespan of about 47 days. Larva is a voracious predator of many aphid species such as, Astegopteryx, and Aleurocanthus.[8]

Adults are also predators of woolly aphids which infest bamboo and sugarcane such as Astegopteryx minima, Astegopteryx bambusae, Ceratovacuna silvestrii, and Pyrolachnus pyri.[7]

References

  1. ^ "Some biological aspects of Megalocaria dilatata Fab. (Col. Coccinellidae) a potential coconut leaf aphid predator". sidalc: v. 47, no. 10 (1992), p.569-572. Retrieved 2021-09-15.
  2. ^ Joshi, Prakash C.; Sharma, Pushpendra K. (2008-10-01). "First Records of Coccinellid Beetles (Coccinellidae) from the Haridwar, (Uttarakhand), India". Tropical Natural History. pp. 157–167. Retrieved 2021-09-15.
  3. ^ "Biodiversity and seasonality of predaceous coccinellids (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) in mango agro-ecosystem of Jharkhand" (PDF). The Ecoscan: 8 (1&2): 53-57, 2014. Retrieved 2021-09-15.
  4. ^ Dorji, Cheten; Lhamo, Tashi; Wangchuk, Jigme (2021-05-31). "Six species of Coccinellidae new to Bhutan (Insecta: Coleoptera)". Oriental Insects. pp. 1–11. doi:10.1080/00305316.2021.1930604. Retrieved 2021-09-15.
  5. ^ "Diversitas Coccinellidae predator pada pertanaman sayuran di Kota Padang" (PDF). researchgate.net. Retrieved 2021-09-15.
  6. ^ "New Records of Coccinellid Beetles (Coccinellidae: Coleoptera) from District Dehradun, (Uttarakhand), India" (PDF). New York Science Journal 2010; 3(6). Retrieved 2021-09-15.
  7. ^ a b "MEGALOCARIA DILATATA (FABRICIUS, 1755) (COLEOPTERA: COCCINELLIDAE): FIRST RECORD FROM NORTH WESTERN GHATS OF MAHARASHTRA, INDIA" (PDF). ejbps, 2019, Volume 6, Issue 12, 445-447. Retrieved 2021-09-15.
  8. ^ Ginting, C. U.; Djamin, A.; Sidauruk, Lamria (1992). "Some biological aspects of Megalocaria dilatata Fab. (Col. : Coccinellidae) a potential coconut leaf aphid predator". Oleagineux (France). Retrieved 2021-09-15.
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