Coccinellid? - Stethorus

Moved

… Tim Loh, 14 January, 2010 - 11:58pm

probably Stethorus - punctum or punctillum

The punctures, pubescence, size, and color (including legs) add up to Stethorus for me, and in your location the species are S. punctum and S. punctillum. They're very similar externally - the postcoxal line is the main difference, with punctum having a deep arc and punctillum a shallow one.

… Abigail Parker, 14 January, 2010 - 10:19pm

Thanks for the ID

it will take some time to get a good ventral shot as I have to relax/soften the specimen again in order to remove it from the point. Stethorus was my best guess too as superficially similar Scymnus seems way too large in general (relatively of course).

… Tim Loh, 14 January, 2010 - 11:56pm

postcoxal lines are big factor for Scymninae

It's not terribly easy to prepare these tiny beetles - my first efforts were a glue-covered mess, you could barely tell there was a beetle in there! - but I try to mount them so that the point doesn't cover the 1st abdominal sternum. (Don't always succeed...)

Gordon's keys to Coccinellidae(1) and Scymnini(2) rely heavily on the postcoxal lines - he even names the types of lines for the scymnines (e.g. Pullus type and Nephus type).

… Abigail Parker, 15 January, 2010 - 9:15am

Thanks

Moving to subfamily for now...

… Tim Loh, 14 January, 2010 - 9:12am

probably something scymnine

Shape and short antennae are typical coccinellid. Dorsal pubescence and pronotum shape are pretty darn scymnine. If I had my coccinellid reference books at the office, I'd look up that combination of ~1mm size, black color, and rather coarse punctation - it's distinctive, and I feel like I should know what it is right away. But my boss is cruising the office looking over people's shoulders, so I'll wait till I get home to look it up!

… Abigail Parker, 14 January, 2010 - 9:09am

agree

with subfamilial placement!

… Blaine Mathison, 14 January, 2010 - 3:15pm