Novius pumilus (Weise)

Novius pumilus (Weise)

( Figs 18d View FIGURE 18 , 20 View FIGURE 20 , 21 View FIGURE 21 )

Rodolia pumila Weise, 1892: 26 .

Rodolia okinawensis Miyatake, 1959: 127 .- Nakane 1963: 207.- Sasaji 1971: 239.

Novius pumilus: Pang et al. 2020: 20 View Cited Treatment .

Diagnosis. Length: 2.40–2.60 mm; width: 2.10–2.40 mm. Form ( Figs 18d View FIGURE 18 , 20a, b View FIGURE 20 ) broad oval, apparently more elongate than in N. amabilis , dorsum orange yellow, reddish or reddish brown, convex and densely pubescent. Prosternal intercoxal process ( Fig. 20c View FIGURE 20 ) broadly trapezoidal.Abdominal postcoxal line ( Fig. 20d View FIGURE 20 ) complete, shallowly semicircular; posterior margin of ventrite 6 subtruncate in female ( Fig. 21a View FIGURE 21 ), emarginate in male ( Fig. 21b View FIGURE 21 ). Male genitalia ( Figs. 20e–g View FIGURE 20 , 21c–e View FIGURE 21 ), female genitalia ( Fig. 21f View FIGURE 21 ) and spermatheca ( Fig. 21g View FIGURE 21 ) as illustrated.

Material examined. India: Punjab : PAU, Ludhiana, collected on mango, 5 ex. ( NBAIR) .

Distribution. India (Punjab, Uttarakhand); Vietnam; China; Taiwan; Japan; Micronesia ( Pang et al. 2020).

Prey/associated habitat. Both adults and larvae of N. pumilus mainly prey on Icerya spp. , including I. purchasi , I. seychellarum , and I. aegyptiaca ( Tang et al. 2022) . Novius pumilus has been widely used in the biocontrol of I. aegyptiaca and I. seychellarum in Spain, Peru and the islands of Micronesia, etc. ( Beardsley 1955; Schmaedick 2007). Adult females usually lay their eggs in exposed sites in the vicinity of prey; otherwise, they oviposit directly underneath the prey ( LeSage 1991). The newly hatched larvae often penetrate into the oocysts of Icerya and their second- and third- instar nymphs to feed under the abdomen ( Balduf 1935).

Notes. Tang et al. (2022) sequenced the whole genome of N. pumilus from China. Though the male genitalia of the Indian specimens examined from Punjab agree with the illustrations by Hoàng (1983) and Ren et al. (2009), the spermatheca differs from the illustration given by Pang et al. (2020). It appears to have a restricted distribution in northern India.