Palaeoneda auriculata

Palaeoneda auriculata (Mulsant) (Fig. 162) Coccinella miniata Hope, 1831: 30 (preoccupied) (Lectotype female, BMNH; Type locality: Nepal).—Crotch 1871: 5; 1874: 32; Booth & Pope 1989: 359. Neda miniata: Mulsant 1850: 276; 1866: 196. Palaeoneda miniata: Crotch 1874: 178; Korschefsky 1932: 279; Ren et al. 2009: 224; Yu 2010: 135–136. Neda auriculata Mulsant, 1866: 195 (Lectotype, UCCC; Type locality: “les Indes-Orientales”). Palaeoneda auriculata: Crotch 1871: 5; 1874: 32; Booth & Pope 1989: 359; Poorani 2002a: 338. Palaeoneda miniata ab. auriculata: Crotch 1874: 178; Korschefsky 1932: 279. Diagnosis. Length: 11.90–13.50 mm; width: 10.50–12.50 mm. Form large, subrounded, dorsum strongly convex and glarous. Head black. Pronotum with a large, median subtrapezoidal, medially slightly narrowed black marking narrowly extending to the posterolateral corners, sides and anterior margin yellowish. Elytra yellowish brown or ochreous or orange or reddish testaceous with a narrow black sutural stripe, basal margin narrowly black.Abdominal postcoxal line (Fig. 162c) incomplete, with an oblique lateral line. Male genitalia (Fig. 162e–g) and spermatheca (Fig. 162d) as illustrated. Distribution. India (Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal); Nepal; Bhutan; Pakistan. Prey/associated habitat. Hemiptera: Adelgidae: Adelges sp. on silver fir; associated with adelgids on spruce, Quercus incana, Q. dilatata, and Salix sp. (label data). Collected on walnut and berseem in Pakistan (Hayat et al. 2017). Seasonal occurrence. Collected during April–June, November (label data). May–June (Hayat et al. 2017). Notes. Palaeoneda auriculata is a distinctive genus and species of large size, but not commonly collected. Treated by Mader (1934), Ren et al. (2009) and Yu (2010).Published as part of POORANI, J., 2023, An illustrated guide to lady beetles (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) of the Indian Subcontinent. Part 1. Tribe Coccinellini, pp. 1-307 in Zootaxa 5332 (1) on page 227, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5332.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/826150