Stethorus ( Allostethorus ) pauperculus (Weise)

Poorani, J., Anuradha, C. & Thanigairaj, R., 2025, An illustrated account of Stethorini (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) predatory on mite pests of banana in India, including description of a new species, Zootaxa 5737 (1), pp. 34-66 : 45

publication ID	https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5737.1.2
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:7F80E6FA-DF73-483B-A947-EC8828D1BF4D
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/038E87CD-FFE7-FFEE-FF7A-D520FC3DF822
treatment provided by	Plazi
scientific name	Stethorus ( Allostethorus ) pauperculus (Weise)
status

Treatment

Stethorus ( Allostethorus) pauperculus (Weise)

( Figs 11a–h View FIGURE 11 , 12a–j View FIGURE 12 )

Scymnus ( Stethorus) pauperculus Weise, 1895: 155 .

Stethorus pauperculus : Weise 1900: 440.– Kapur 1948: 309.

Diagnosis. Length: 1.00– 1.20 mm; width: 0.80–0.90 mm. Form elongate, somewhat narrowly oval; dorsum moderately convex and densely pubescent with silvery white hairs ( Fig. 11a–c View FIGURE 11 ). Abdominal postcoxal lines fairly deeply semicircular ( Fig. 11d, e View FIGURE 11 ) extending beyond middle to nearly two-thirds of the length of ventrite 1, enclosed area with few punctures confined to the anterior inner half. Male genitalia ( Fig. 11f–h View FIGURE 11 ) diagnostic, as illustrated.

Immature stages. Immature stages as illustrated in Fig. 12a–g View FIGURE 12 .

Material examined. INDIA: Tamil Nadu: Podavur, NRCB Research Farm , N10°47'20.16" E078°34'29.88", 18.xi.16, 13.iii.24, 8.ix.25, on banana, R. Thanigairaj, 30 ex. (ICAR-NRCB) GoogleMaps .

Distribution. India: Widely distributed ( Bihar; Delhi; Karnataka; Kerala; Gujarat; Maharashtra; Tamil Nadu; West Bengal); Pakistan; Middle East ( Yemen) ( Kapur 1948).

Biology. Commonly collected on banana and several other host plants, including brinjal, Calotropis gigantea , coconut, etc.; Oligonychus indicus (Hirst) on bajra, maize, sorghum; Oligonychus sp. on arecanut, banana; Tetranychus truncatus on bhindi, cowpea; T. macfarlanei Baker and Pritchard on Amaranthus sp.; T. okinawanus on cowpea; Tetranychus sp. on bhindi; predatory on Eutetranychus orientalis , Tetranychus ludeni ; collected on Andropogon , banana, bhindi, coconut, ridge gourd, soyabean, sugarcane (prey not known) ( Kapur 1948; Gupta 1985; Vidya 2018; Vidya et al. 2022).

Barcode sequence. A barcode sequence of the material collected on banana is deposited in GenBank (accession number MF188881.1).

Notes. It is the most common Stethorus species with a pan Indian distribution on various crops, besides banana. The key diagnostic characters are the deeply semicircular abdominal postcoxal lines extending beyond middle to nearly two-thirds of the length of ventrite 1 and the male genitalia.