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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Beetles (Coleoptera) » Polyphaga » Series Cucujiformia » Coccinelloidea » Coccinellid group » Lady Beetles (Coccinellidae) » Scymninae » Scymnillini » Zilus

Genus Zilus

Smallest Ladybird - Zilus horni Smallest Ladybird - Zilus horni Zilus horni Zilus horni Zilus horni Zilus horni Zilus aterrimus (Horn) - Zilus aterrimus Zilus horni? Red Bank Battlefield Park, NJ - Zilus horni
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Coleoptera (Beetles)
Suborder Polyphaga
No Taxon (Series Cucujiformia)
Superfamily Coccinelloidea
No Taxon (Coccinellid group)
Family Coccinellidae (Lady Beetles)
Subfamily Scymninae
Tribe Scymnillini
Genus Zilus
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
First described in 1850 by Étienne Mulsant as a subgenus of Scymnus
Numbers
4 species in North America (many more in the subtropics):
Zilus aterrimus
Zilus eleutherae
Zilus horni
Zilus subtropicus
Size
Length less than 2.0 mm(1)
Identification
Small, oval to oblong shape
Head partially concealed by pronotum
Head and pronotum pubescent (having short, fine hairs)
Elytra (wing covers) smooth, or with very few sparse hairs

"That combination of pubescent head+pronotum and glabrous elytra is characteristic of Zilus" - Natalia Vandenberg
Range
In the east, from Maryland and Wisconsin to Florida and Louisiana; in the west, from Idaho and Washington to California and Arizona.
Food
Scale insects, whiteflies
Print References
Gordon, 1985, especially pages 75-80, figures 36-41.(1)
Works Cited
1.The Coccinellidae (Coleoptera) of America North of Mexico
Robert D. Gordon. 1985. Journal of the New York Entomological Society, Vol. 93, No. 1.
Contributed by v belov on 29 June, 2009 - 10:12am
Additional contributions by Chuck Entz, James Bailey, Abigail Parker, PaleoJon
Last updated 26 April, 2022 - 9:49am

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