Family Coccinilidae: Exochomus marginipennis? - Exochomus childreni

Moved

… Abigail Parker, 12 September, 2013 - 8:20am

Exochomus childreni childreni - 4-spotted form

E. marginipennis is very similar, but a few things are pointing me at E. childreni childreni: highly convex shape, not elongated; fine elytral punctation; and the precise shape of the apical spots and the thick dark apical suture. Also, most specimens of E. marginipennis have at least a narrow pale area on the pronotum, even the females, while the pronotum here is entirely black.

Any one or two of those wouldn't clinch the ID for me, but all of them together add up to the uncommon 4-spotted form of E. c. childreni.

Nice find! This is the first 4-spotted form of the species on BugGuide.

… Abigail Parker, 12 September, 2013 - 8:19am

Thanks!

I appreciate the identification, and I'm so happy to have been able to provide the first photograph of this species for BugGuide.

Not long ago I sent an image of a pre-pupa form of Exochomus to BugGuide and you personally identified it as either Exochomus marginipennis or Exochomus childreni childreni. The BugGuide identification for that photograph is #837075. I photographed that pre-pupa on a Caesar Weed (Urena lobata) seed pod on April 24, 2013. It seems ironic that both the pre-pupa and this adult were on Caesar Weed seed pods in the same scrub area at the Conservancy of Southwest Florida. Do you know of a particular scale or aphid that would frequent caesar weed seed pods?

… Susan Leach Snyder, 12 September, 2013 - 12:54pm

not an expert, but will check

Since caesarweed is considered invasive, there may be some information on insects that consume it - I didn't see anything in a quick online search (other than that aphids and scales in general consume it), but someone's probably got a scientific or agricultural journal article on it.

It's highly suggestive that your larva was found so close to this adult, although I wouldn't actually ID the larva based on that. But I'm going to mentally bookmark it to compare to other Exochomus larvae that are submitted to BG, especially in Florida.

… Abigail Parker, 12 September, 2013 - 1:25pm

Thanks!

Thank you for your persistence.

… Susan Leach Snyder, 12 September, 2013 - 1:38pm

Moved tentatively; good call

Moved from ID Request.

… v belov, 10 September, 2013 - 2:43pm