Stethorus ( Stethorus ) gilvifrons (Mulsant)

Stethorus ( Stethorus) gilvifrons (Mulsant)

( Fig. 19a–f View FIGURE 19 )

Scymnus ( Pullus) gilvifrons Mulsant, 1850: 995 .

Stethorus gilvifrons : Weise 1885: 74.

Diagnosis. Length: 1.20–1.40 mm; width: 0.90–1.00 mm. Form elongate, narrow oval, dorsum moderately convex, with dense, greyish white pubescence ( Fig. 19a, b View FIGURE 19 ). Dorsum mostly black, antenna, mouthparts and legs testaceous. Abdominal postcoxal lines ( Fig. 19c View FIGURE 19 ) complete, shallowly semi-circular, not reaching middle of ventrite 1, enclosed area with punctures confined to anterior half. Posterior margin of abdominal ventrite 6 medially distinctly and widely emarginate. Male genitalia with a characteristic, very long penis guide ( Fig. 19d, e View FIGURE 19 ), tapering towards apex and outwardly bent towards parameres in lateral view ( Fig. 19e View FIGURE 19 ); parameres narrow and nearly two-thirds the length of penis guide, each bearing a pair of short setae at the apex; penis strongly curved, elongate ( Fig. 19f View FIGURE 19 ) with a dark brown to black penis capsule ( Fig. 19g View FIGURE 19 ) with an elongate inner arm.

Material examined. INDIA: Uttar Pradesh, 2021, Santosh Kedar , without other data, 3 ex. (ICAR-NRCB) .

Distribution. Widely distributed in the Oriental and Palaearctic regions; India ( Delhi; Haryana; Jammu & Kashmir; Punjab; Uttar Pradesh; Uttarakhand); Pakistan; Middle East; Europe ( Poorani 2002; Rafi et al. 2005; Kovář 2007; Ren et al. 2009; Hayat & Khan 2013; Ashfaque et al. 2015; Iqbal et al. 2018).

Notes. Stethorus gilvifrons is commonly found in northern and northwestern India as a predator of several mite pests on many host plants, including the species found on banana, like E. orientalis , O. indicus , T. urticae , and T. neocaledonicus ( Gupta 1985) .