Nomenclature

Chilocorus infernalis Mulsant, 1853a: 189.

Chilocorus bijugus Mulsant, 1853a: 189; 1853b: 61.-Crotch, 1874: 183.-Korschefsky, 1932: 242.

Chilocorus bijugus infernalis: Korschefsky, 1932: 242.

Diagnosis

Length 4.3-6.0 mm, width 4.0-5.0 mm. Form  obovate, posteriorly narrowed, strongly convex. Ground colour uniformly shiny black, sometimes with a greenish tinge, each elytron with a pair of reddish testaceous or orange yellow spots a little before middle in anterior half, outer spot usually smaller than inner spot, rarely subequal. Male genitalia and female spermatheca as illustrated.  

Distribution

India: Himachal Pradesh; Jammu & Kashmir; Meghalaya; Uttar Pradesh. Pakistan. Nepal. Himalayas. Introduced and established in parts of Russia.

Prey/associated habitat

HOMOPTERA: Aleyrodidae: citrus whitefly. Aphidoidea:  Adelges sp., Aphis pomi De Geer, Brachycaudus helichrysi (Kaltenbach), Eriosoma lanigerum (Hausmann). Coccoidea: Aonidiella aurantii (Maskell), Ericerus pela (Chavannes), Diaspidiotus prunorum (Laing), Lepidosaphes afganensis Borchsenius, Lopholeucaspis japonica (Cockerell), Metaceronema japonica (Maskell), Parlatoria ziziphi (Lucas), Diaspidiotus perniciosus (Comstock), Tecaspis sp., Unaspis yanonensis (Kuwana). Collected in association with scales on apple, pear, peach, and other temperate fruits, olive, citrus, Olea cuspidata, willow, mulberry, etc.

Seasonal occurrence

Active during May-September in northwestern and northeastern regions of India. Very effective in the early months of summer in Kashmir. Collected during April-May, July and October in northern India.

Natural enemies

Homalotylus sp. Heavily parasitized by a number of chalcid and eulophid parasitoids from the end of July in Kashmir.

References

• Ahmad, R. & Ghani, M.A. 1966. Biology of Chilocorus infernalis Muls. (Col.: Coccinellidae). Technical Bulletin, Commonwealth Institute of Biological Control, 7, 101-106.

• Kapur, A.P. 1956. Systematic and biological notes on the ladybird beetles predacious on the San Jose scale in Kashmir with description of a new species (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae). Records of the Indian Museum 52 (1954): 257-274.

• Nagaraja, H. & Hussainy, S.U. 1967. A study of six species of Chilocorus (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) predaceous on San Jose and other scale insects. Oriental Insects 1: 249-256.

• Pang, X.F. & Mao, J.L. 1979. Coleoptera: Coccinellidae, II. Khongguo Jingi Kunchang Zhi 14: 1-170.