Synonycha grandis (Thunberg)

Giant bamboo ladybird

Coleoptera: Coccinellidae: Coccinellinae: Coccinellini

Length 10.5-13.0 mm, width 9.0-11.5 mm. Form round and very large, strongly convex. Ground colour bright red, orange or yellow, with the following black markings: a transverse black marking in posterior half of head, below lower margins of eyes; a large, trapezoidal median marking at base of pronotum and thirteen spots on elytra-three common spots on sutural line, rest arranged in a 1-2-2 pattern on each elytron. Ventral side uniformly reddish or yellowish brown. Antenna (Fig. 1) short and compact, last segment spatulate. Tarsal claw (Fig. 5), female spermatheca (Fig. 6) and male genitalia (Figs. 7-8) as illustrated.

This is one of the largest ladybirds of the world and perhaps the largest in India.


Figs. 1-8. Synonycha grandis: 1. Antenna; 2. Prosternal intercoxal process; 3. Postcoxal line on first abdominal ventrite; 4. Elytral epipleuron; 5. Tarsal claw; 6. Female, spermatheca; 7-8. Male genitalia: 7. Tegmen, ventral view; 8. Sipho.

 Freshly emerged adult
   Adult
 Larvae feeding on bamboo aphid, Pseudoregma bambusicola
 Pupa

India: Tamil Nadu; Karnataka; West Bengal; Sikkim; Manipur; Andamans. (More common in the southern and northeastern regions). Sri Lanka. Nepal. Malaysia. New Guinea. Japan. China. Taiwan. Widely distributed in the Orient.

HEMIPTERA: Aphididae: Aphis craccivora Koch, Aphis gossypii Glover, Astegopteryx (as Oregma) bambusae (Buckton), Astegopteryx spp., Pseudoregma alexanderi (Takahashi), Pseudoregma bambusicola (Takahashi), Pseudoregma bucktoni Ghosh et al., sugarcane woolly aphid (Ceratovacuna lanigera Zehntner), Ceratovacuna silvestrii (Takahashi), Tuberculatus indicus Ghosh.

Found in large numbers on bamboo, and rarely in crop ecosystems; in association with aphids infesting bhendi, lablab and Quercus serrata. The adults survive on aphids infesting cowpea, groundnut, cotton, pea, rose, jack, brinjal, cabbage, radish, mustard, citrus, sorghum, etc. in the laboratory, but apparently bamboo aphids (P. bambusicola) are essential/preferred food (Puttarudriah & Channabasavanna, 1952, 1953).

Collected round the year; particularly abundant during July-December in and around Bangalore (Puttarudriah & Channabasavanna, 1953); June-August in eastern region (West Bengal).

Tetrastichus sp. (Puttarudriah & Channabasavanna, 1953).