Parexochomus pubescens (Küster)

(Figs 59, 60)

Exochomus pubescens Küster, 1848: 94 .— Mulsant 1853a: 192; 1853b: 64; Korschefsky 1932: 256; Kapur 1951 a: 292; Poorani, 2002: 313.

Exochomus (Parexochomus) pubescens: Chapin 1965: 250.

Parexochomus pubescens: Biranvand et al. 2017: 60.

Diagnosis. Length: 2.50–2.80 mm; width: 2.0– 2.20 mm. Form short oval, dorsum strongly convex, with distinct, greyish white hairs (Fig. 59a, b). Head and pronotum yellowish brown, pronotum slightly fuscous in middle or with a distinct black median macula, elytra dark brown to black. Ventral side (Fig. 59c) dark brown except prosternum, legs and posterior abdominal ventrites yellowish. Prosternal intercoxal process without carinae (Fig. 59g). Abdominal postcoxal line (Fig. 59h) semicircular, nearly complete, area enclosed with dense punctures (Fig. 60a). Female genitalia (Fig. 59i), spermatheca (Fig. 59j) and male genitalia (Fig. 60b–e) as illustrated.

Distribution. India (Haryana; New Delhi; Uttar Pradesh); Pakistan; Afghanistan; Middle East (Syria, Palestine, Iran, Israel, Saudi Arabia); North Africa (Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia); Europe (Spain, Greece, France, Italy) (Kovář 2007; Biranvand et al. 2017).

Prey / associated habitat. Collected on cowpea and grasses (label data). Predatory on Parlatoria spp. in Pakistan (Ali et al. 2018). Known to feed on Bemisia tabaci ( Aleyrodidae) and Tetranychus turkmenicus in Iran (Moddarres-Awal, 2012).

Seasonal occurrence. Collected during September (label data from New Delhi).

Notes. It appears to be the smallest Chilocorini in the Indian region (Length: 2.50 mm) and built on a smaller scale than Brumoides spp. and it is distributed in northern states. Kapur (1951 a) provided notes on its distribution. See Biranvand et al. (2017) for a list of extralimital synonyms.