Serangium parcesetosum Sicard (=Catana parcesetosa (Sicard))

Coleoptera: Coccinellidae: Sticholotidinae: Serangiini

Length 2.04-2.16 mm, width 1.62-1.80 mm. Form hemispherical, only slightly longer than broad, strongly convex, dorsal side shiny with sparse, erect, thin silvery white hairs on pronotum, anterior and lateral margins of elytra. Colouration uniform reddish brown or yellowish brown on both sides. Compound eyes large, coarsely faceted, interocular distance at its narrowest slightly less than twice the eye width (Fig. 1). A row of dark reddish brown spots (not amounting to true punctations) present on either side of suture. Male genitalia (Figs. 7, 8) asymmetrical, both parameres triangular. Larva pale greyish with a greenish tinge, spindle-shaped and strongly narrowed towards apex in the posterior half.

Very similar to S. montazerii Fursch, commonly distributed in northern / northwestern India, in general appearance, and can be differentiated mainly by larger and less broadly separated eyes (interocular distance slightly more than twice the eye width (Fig. 2) in S. montazerii) and male genitalia (Fig. 9, 10). Further, S. montazerii is paler and elytral punctations are finer and more prominent than those of S. parcesetosum.


Figs. 1-10. Diagnostic characters of S. parcesetosum and S. montazerii: 1. Head, S. parcesetosum; 2. Head, S. montazerii; 3. Antenna; 4. Mandible; 5. Elytral epipleuron; 6. Female spermatheca; 7, 9. Male genitalia, S. montazerii; 8, 10. Male genitalia, S. parcesetosum.

   Adult feeding on indeterminate whitefly
   Adult feeding on spiralling whitefly, Aleurodicus dispersus (Russell)
 Adult in dorsal view
   Larva feeding on Aleurocanthus arecae on coconut
 Pupa in a spiralling whitefly colony

India: Fairly common in central and peninsular region, especially southern states (Bihar; Delhi; Gujarat; Karnataka; Kerala; Maharashtra; Tamil Nadu; Uttar Pradesh). Introduced into the USA and Turkey. Its close relative, S. montazerii is apparently confined to north and northwestern regions of India and not recorded in peninsular India.

HEMIPTERA: Aleyrodidae: Aleurocanthus arecae David, Aleurocanthus woglumi Ashby, Aleurocanthus sp., Aleurodicus dispersus Russell, Aleurolobus barodensis (Maskell), Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius), and Trialeurodes ricini (Misra). Coccoidea: Coccus hesperidum Linnaeus, Hsuia sp., Ferrisia virgata (Cockerell). Collected in association with whiteflies infesting cotton, castor, coconut, guava, sunnhemp, etc. Introduced into the USA for controlling the silverleaf whitefly, Bemisia argentifolii Bellows & Perring (Legaspi et al., 1996) and Turkey.

Collected during March-June and August-September in different parts of peninsular India.

References to Cryptognatha flavescens Motschulsky from this region in old literature (Hussain & Khan, 1945; Pruthi & Mani, 1945) involve either S. parcesetosum or S. montazerii. Timofeyeva & Hoang (1978) provided an account of the biology and the description of larva and pupa of S. montazerii as Serangium parcesetosum.