''Papuaepilachna guttatopustulata'', the large leaf-eating ladybird, is a species of

ladybird Coccinellidae () is a widespread family of small beetles ranging in size from . They are commonly known as ladybugs in North America and ladybirds in Great Britain. Some entomologists prefer the names ladybird beetles or lady beetles as they ...

, formerly in the genus '' Henosepilachna''Tomaszewska, W., & Szawaryn, K. (2016). Epilachnini (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae)-A Revision of the World Genera. Journal of insect science (Online), 16(1), 101. doi:10.1093/jisesa/iew082 endemic to parts of

Australasia Australasia is a region that comprises Australia, New Zealand and some neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically, physiogeographically, philologically, and ecologica ...

, specifically New South Wales, Queensland, the

Bismarck Archipelago The Bismarck Archipelago (, ) is a group of islands off the northeastern coast of New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean and is part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. Its area is about 50,000 square km. History The first inhabitants o ...

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

New Hebrides New Hebrides, officially the New Hebrides Condominium (french: link=no, Condominium des Nouvelles-Hébrides, "Condominium of the New Hebrides") and named after the Hebrides Scottish archipelago, was the colonial name for the island group ...

and

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...

. ''Papuaepilachna guttatopustulata'' is a member of the subfamily

Epilachninae The Epilachninae are a subfamily of the family (biology), family of lady beetles, the Coccinellidae, in the order Beetle, Coleoptera. Superficially, they look much like other ladybirds in the larger subfamily Coccinellinae, but they differ imp ...

. Accordingly it is

herbivorous A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthpart ...

; both the larvae and the adults eat the foliage of solanaceous plants. In addition to feeding on native species and on introduced weeds such as ''

Solanum nigrum ''Solanum nigrum'', the European black nightshade or simply black nightshade or blackberry nightshade, is a species of flowering plant in the genus ''Solanum'', native to Eurasia and introduced in the Americas, Australasia, and South Africa. Ripe ...

'', it attacks cultivated plants such as ''

Duboisia :''The orchid genus described by Karsten as ''Duboisia'' is now included in ''Myoxanthus. For the prehistoric antelope genus, see ''Duboisia (antelope).'' ''Duboisia'' (commonly called corkwood tree) is a genus of small perennial shrubs and tree ...

'' spp.,

egg plant Eggplant ( US, Canada), aubergine ( UK, Ireland) or brinjal (Indian subcontinent, Singapore, Malaysia, South Africa) is a plant species in the nightshade family Solanaceae. ''Solanum melongena'' is grown worldwide for its edible fruit. Mos ...

potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...

and

tomato The tomato is the edible berry of the plant ''Solanum lycopersicum'', commonly known as the tomato plant. The species originated in western South America, Mexico, and Central America. The Mexican Nahuatl word gave rise to the Spanish word ...

. The species causes further damage by acting as a

vector Vector most often refers to: *Euclidean vector, a quantity with a magnitude and a direction *Vector (epidemiology), an agent that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen into another living organism Vector may also refer to: Mathematic ...

for Solanum nodiflorum mottle virus. ''P. guttatopustulata'' is the host for the parasitic chalcid wasp ''Uga colliscutellum''.

Description

''P. guttatopustulata'' is 7–9 mm in length, with the distinct rounded

elytra An elytron (; ; , ) is a modified, hardened forewing of beetles (Coleoptera), though a few of the true bugs (Hemiptera) such as the family Schizopteridae are extremely similar; in true bugs, the forewings are called hemelytra (sometimes alterna ...

or fore wings typical of ladybirds. Apart from their coloured spots, the elytra and

pronotum The prothorax is the foremost of the three segments in the thorax of an insect, and bears the first pair of legs. Its principal sclerites (exoskeletal plates) are the pronotum (dorsal), the prosternum (ventral), and the propleuron (lateral) on ea ...

are black, while the propleura, the sides of the prothorax, are yellow or yellowish brown. Each elytron bears three spots. The spot on the top of the midline is reddish brown, as is the spot on the rear of the elytron. Another spot on the lower front part of the elytron also is yellow or yellowish brown.

References

Coccinellidae Beetles of Australia Taxa named by Johan Christian Fabricius Beetles described in 1775 {{Coccinellidae-stub