Stictobura Crotch 1874

Stictobura Crotch, 1874: 201.– Sicard 1911: 385; Poorani et al. 2011: 2. Type species: Calvia? pallideguttata Mulsant 1853: 289, by monotypy. Apterolotis Weise, 1908: 225; 1923: 127.– Korschefsky 1931: 211. Synonymized by Sicard 1911: 385. Type species: Sticholotis (Apterolotis) andrewesi Weise, 1908: 225 (= Stictobura pallideguttata (Mulsant, 1853)), by subsequent designation of Korschefsky 1931. Diagnosis. Form medium to large, with a round or subcircular or slightly broader oval outline; dorsum very strongly convex, almost hemispherical, elytra without apparent vestiture but characterized by sparse, thin, suberect to erect hairs, easily noticeable on anterior, lateral and posterior margins, those on disc apparent only at high magnifications. Clypeal margin of head distinctly semi-circularly emarginate. Antenna with 11 antennomeres, apical three segments forming an elongate and fusiform club. Terminal segment of maxillary palpi elongate conical, apical margin strongly and obliquely truncate, shorter than outer margin. Elytra with lateral borders having a distinct marginal bead; punctation on elytra usually conspicuously dual. Prosternal process broad, quadrate and carinate. Abdomen with five ventrites, abdominal postcoxal line incomplete and parallel to posterior margin of ventrite 1. Functional wings reduced/atrophied. Elytral epipleura broad, foveolate on level with mid and hind legs. Legs with cryptotetramerous tarsi, tarsal claws swollen basally, lacking a basal tooth. Female genitalia with coxites elongate triangular, bearing short styli, with a very long bursa and a rather large and moderately sclerotized structure, representing a poorly differentiated spermatheca, or possibly just a lobe of the bursa. Prey / associated habitat. Of the three species of Stictobura, S. semipolita is fairly common in the Western Ghats and most of the available specimens were collected from tea and coffee plantations in South India (label data). Stictobura pallideguttata also has been collected on tea (label data), and S. melanaria was found to be associated with moss (label data), but both are seldom collected. Poorani et al. (2011) mentioned that detailed biology is not known for all the species, but prey records from label data indicated a preference for Coccoidea (Hemiptera: Coccoidea: Diaspididae, Coccidae). Notes. Stictobura is placed in the tribe Sticholotidini under Coccinellinae. Recent studies on the phylogeny of Coccinellidae / Sticholotidini indicate the tribe is polyphyletic (Escalona & Ślipiński 2012; Seago et al. 2011; Ślipiński 2007; Vandenberg & Perez-Gelabert 2007; Che et al. 2021) and the taxonomic status and the interrelationships of many genera in this tribe have not been resolved yet. Poorani et al. (2011) provided comparative notes on Stictobura vis-à-vis other Asian genera of Sticholotidini and the Hispaniolan genus Bura Mulsant, 1850. Some unusually large species of Sticholotis that resemble Stictobura occur in Vietnam, northeastern India, and Indonesia (Poorani et al. 2011) and among Indian Sticholotis, only S. magnostriata Poorani, 2011 is as large as Stictobura.