Chilocorus melas Weise

(Figs 37, 38)

Chilocorus melas Weise, 1898: 229 .

Chilocorus melas: Korschefsky 1932: 243; Booth 1998: 364; Poorani 2002: 311; Pang et al. 2004: 28; Kovář 2007: 593; Ren et al. 2009: 132; Li et al. 2018: 9.

Chilocorus gressitti Miyatake, 1970a: 330 .— Hoáng 1983: 18. Synonymized by Booth 1998: 364.

Diagnosis. Length: 3.10–3.80 mm; width: 2.90–3.70 mm. Form (Fig. 37a–c) round, dorsum hemispherical and strongly convex. Head dark brown to blackish with an anterior yellowish brown area in females, largely yellowish in males; pronotum almost wholly blackish to dark brownish or piceous (only anterior margin lighter brown), parts of ventral side also blackish or piceous; elytra finely punctate, sides of elytra with generally slightly coarser and more strongly impressed punctures than those on disk. Abdominal postcoxal line incomplete (Fig. 37d). Male genitalia (Fig. 37e–h) diagnostic, as illustrated. Female genitalia (Fig. 37i) and spermatheca (Fig. 37j) as illustrated.

It can be separated from C. nigrita, the most widespread Indian species, by the more or less completely black head and pronotum, the stronger and coarser punctation on the sides of the elytra and the male genitalia (Booth 1998).

Life stages. Life stages (Fig. 38) as illustrated, larva (Fig. 38a) distinct from C. nigrita in having a dark head and two transverse black bands, one anterior and one posterior.

Distribution. India: Limited to north-eastern region (Sikkim; West Bengal). Bhutan. Thailand. Vietnam. Malaysia. Indonesia. China (Booth, 1998).

Prey/associated habitat. Hemiptera: Coccidae: Coccus viridis (Green) on citrus (label data).

Seasonal occurrence. Collected during March.

Notes. This species belongs to the nigrita -species group and is similar to C. nigrita in general appearance except for the coloration of the head and pronotum. It was originally described from Indonesia (Java) and it has a very limited distribution in the Indian mainland and is confined to the north-eastern region. For more detailed description / illustrations, see Miyatake (1970a) (as C. gressitti), Booth (1998) and Li et al. (2018).