Curinus coeruleus
Creators: name: POORANI, J.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Coccinellidae
Curinus
Curinus coeruleus

description: Curinus coeruleus (Mulsant)
(Figs 53–56)
Orcus (Curinus) coeruleus Mulsant, 1850: 472.
Curinus coeruleus: Crotch 1874: 190; Korschefsky Male genitalia (Fig. 49c–g) as illustrated 1932: 252; Chapin 1965: 244; Poorani 2002: 312.
Diagnosis. Length: 4.90–5.20 mm; width: 4.50–4.75 mm. Form (Fig. 53a, 55i) round in male, broadly oval and slightly more elongate in female, dorsum hemispherical and strongly convex. Head partly orange yellow in male and dark pitchy brown to black in female. Pronotum dark purplish blue except anterolateral flanks bright orange-yellow or reddish-orange. Elytra uniformly dark metallic bluish to purplish blue. Ventral side orange yellow except median part of prosternum, meso- and metasterna dark brown to black; elytral epipleura darker. Abdomen with five and six visible ventrites in female and male, respectively; fifth medially deeply emarginate in male and narrowly arcuate in female. Male genitalia (Figs 53g –i, 54 e-h) as illustrated. Female genitalia (Fig. 54i) with elongate triangular coxites; infundibulum present (Fig. 54i, j); spermatheca (Figs 53f, 54k) as illustrated.
Life stages. Life stages as illustrated (Figs 55, 56).
Distribution. It is a native of South America and was introduced in India from Thailand in 1988 (Jalali & Singh 1989b) and also in Indonesia, Hawaii, and the Philippines, for controlling the subabul psyllid, Heteropsylla cubana Crawford (Hemiptera: Psyllidae). It has permanently established in southern India, but appears to be more common in cooler conditions. Recorded as an adventive species in Florida, USA.
Prey/associated habitat. Collected in large numbers on subabul (Leucaena leucocephala), an economically important forage and fodder legume crop. Occasionally found resting on other vegetation near subabul (label data). Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae: Aleurodicus dispersus Russell, Aleurothrixus sp. Aphididae: Ceratovacuna lanigera Zehntner. Pseudococcidae: Coccidohystrix insolita (Green), Dysmicoccus neobrevipes Beardsley, Ferrisia virgata (Cockerell), Nipaecoccus nipae (Maskell). Psyllidae: Heteropsylla cubana Crawford. Thysanoptera: Thrips palmi Karny. Ferrisia virgata can be used as a laboratory host in summer when the psyllid population on subabul declines in nature (Joshi et al. 2001 a).
Seasonal occurrence. Active throughout the year except summer months in and around Bangalore. Particularly abundant during July–November.
Notes. It is the only introduced species of Chilocorini now permanently established in South India as a natural regulating factor of the exotic subabul psyllid. See the following works for more information on its bioecology: Ide et al. 2000 (description of larva & pupa); Jalali & Singh 1989b, 1992, 1993 (biology, feeding potential, life table studies from India); Diraviam & Viraktamath 1990, 1993 (population dynamics, toxicity of insecticides); Joshi et al. 2001 a (rearing on alternative host).
description: Published as part of POORANI, J., 2023, An illustrated guide to the lady beetles (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) of the Indian Subcontinent. Part II. Tribe Chilocorini, pp. 1-108 in Zootaxa 5378 (1) on page 73, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5378.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/10208917