Coccinella iranica Dobzhansky 1926

Coccinella iranica Dobzhansky, 1926 Coccinella iranica Dobzhansky, 1926: 26; Mader (1930): 165; Korschefsky (1932): 467; Ashfaque et al. (2013): 241. Coccinella (s. str.) iranica: Iablokoff-Khnzorian (1979): 68, Iablokoff-Khnzorian (1982): 382. Materials Type status: Other material. Occurrence: individualCount: 1; sex: 1 female; occurrenceID: 3E97138F-A6D4-5E95-A1B5-E8232D985CA5; Taxon: scientificName: Coccinella iranica; order: Coleoptera; family: Coccinellidae; scientificNameAuthorship: Dobzhansky, 1926; Location: country: Pakistan; stateProvince: Gilgit-Baltistan,; locality: Hunza, Duikar; verbatimElevation: 2821 m; decimalLatitude: 36.32505; decimalLongitude: 74.6903; Identification: identificationReferences: Ashfaque et al. 2013; Event: year: 2005; month: 4; day: 20; Record Level: institutionID: NIM Description Body broadly oval and slightly convex, dorsal surface glabrous; head black; mouthparts and antennae dark brown to black; pronotum mostly black with a brownish stripe along anterior margins; scutellar shield black; elytra brown to brownish-yellow with eight irregular black spots, first elongate oval black spot at anterior margin along suture of both elytrons, second large L-shaped black mark at the middle, third oval spot at posterolateral margins and fourth sub-equal black spot near suture at the posterior margin of elytra. Male genitalia: penis apex flattened, with blunt tip; penis guide in inner view with narrow and rounded tip, paramers slightly shorter than the penis guide (Ashfaque et al. 2013). Measurements TL: 5.30–547 mm; TW: 4.29–4.37 mm (Ashfaque et al. 2013). Diagnosis Coccinella iranica is similar to C. marussii, but it can be differentiated by the latter from the brownish stripes on the anterior margins and the penis guide with the narrow and rounded tip in the inner view. In C. marussii, pronotal anterior corners with pale yellow quadrangular marks, penis guide with a broad and blunt tip in the inner view (Fig. 3 E). Distribution Pakistan: Gilgit-Baltistan (Ashfaque et al. 2013); – Iran (Dobzhansky 1926, Kovář 2005), Turkey (Fürsch 1981, Kovář 2005). Ecology Prey. Unknown from Pakistan. Associated plants. Unknown from Pakistan. Notes Dobzhansky (1926) described and illustrated this species for the first time from northern Iran. Later on, Dobzhansky (1931) considered it under the Coccinella difficilis species group. Fürsch (1981) described and illustrated its male genitalia. Ashfaque et al. (2013) reported this species from Pakistan.