Coccinellidae, Latreille, 1807

List of Coccinellidae View in CoL species from the Northeast Region of Brazil

Below are presented the two subfamilies with representatives for NE Brazil — Coccinellinae Latreille, 1807 (129 species, 19 tribes) and Microweiseinae Leng, 1920 (four species, two tribes) (Table1).

Of the 133 species of Coccinellidae that occur in NE Brazil, 29 represent new records ( Figs 2–31 View FIGURES 2–7 View FIGURES 8–13 View FIGURES 14–19 View FIGURES 20–25 View FIGURES 26–31 ; Table 1): three of Brachiacanthini ( Cyrea maxine ; Dilatitibialis laterinotata ; and Serratitibia shirley ); seven of Chnoodini ( Chnoodes nigra , C. tarsalis ; Coeliaria castanea ; Exoplectra batesii , E. columba ; Gordonoryssomus everardoi ; and Pseudoryssomus brulei ), one of Coccidulini ( Rhyzobius lophanthae ), five of Coccinellini ( Harmonia axyridis ; Paraneda pallidula ; Psyllobora bicongregata , P. consitoides and P. lenta ), one of Cryptognathini ( Cryptognatha auriculata ), three of Epilachnini ( Adira obscurocincta ; Epilachna marginella and E. spreta ), three of Hyperaspidini ( Hyperaspis conclusa , H. festiva and H. scutifera ), one of Noviini ( Novius cardinalis ), two of Ortaliini ( Zenoria linteolata and Z. revestita ), one of Pentiliini ( Calloeneis roxanne ), one of Sticholotidini ( Pharoscymnus flexibilis ) and one of Serangiini ( Delphastus davidsoni ).

Of these, four are new species records for Brazil: Cryptognatha auriculata ; Hyperaspis scutifera ; Pseudoryssomus brulei ; and Rhyzobius lophanthae .

In addition, of the species mentioned as new records, four of them are exotic: Harmonia axyridis ; Novius cardinalis ; Pharoscymnus flexibilis ; and Rhyzobius lophanthae . This means that the number of exotic species in the region increases from six to ten, and now represents about 7.7% of the family’s diversity in the region.

The record of Harmonia axyridis in Maranhão deserves to be highlighted because it represents a threat to the local Coccinellidae fauna: it is a species that has harmed native species in other regions of the world and in Brazil, where it was also introduced ( Almeida & Silva 2002).

Some species— Azya luteipes ; Cycloneda sanguinea ; Hyperaspis festiva ; Psyllobora confluens ; and Zagreus bimaculosus —appear to be common across the entire territorial extension of the Northeast, as they have been confirmed to occur in almost all States in the region.

Since the territories of some States ( Maranhão, Ceará and Rio Grande do Norte) practically correspond to a single biome or ecotone ( IBGE 2023) and some species occur in several States in the region, it can be said that their distributions do not seem be delimited by biomes, corresponding concomitantly to areas of Caatinga, Cerrado, Mata Atlântica and ecotones. That is the case for the native species Azya luteipes ; Brachiacantha bahiensis and B. groendali ; Cycloneda sanguinea ; Exoplectra calcarata ; Hyperaspis camargoi and H. festiva ; Jaguarita conjugata ; Psyllobora confluens and P. picturata ; Tenuisvalvae notata ; Zagreus bimaculosus ; and for the exotics Chilocorus nigritus and Hippodamia convergens .

Only five species are recorded for the oceanic archipelago of Fernando de Noronha: Chilocorus nigritus ; Delphastus punctum ; Scymnobius pernambucensis ; Scymnus ( Pullus) cerinotum and S. ( Pullus) rubicundus . The record of S. ( Pullus) cerinotum for the archipelago is the only record of this species for NE Brazil: the other record of this species in Brazil is for “Chapada” (Gordon 2001).