Biology:Afissa
Afissa is a genus of ladybug beetles that belongs to the tribe Epilachnini. Members of this genus can be found throughout Eurasia and Africa.[1]
Taxonomy
Taxonomic history
The genus was erected in 1947 by Gerhard Heinrich Dieke, a German-American physicist who was an expert on the taxonomy of ladybug beetles. When it was erected, the type species was Coccinella flavicollis which is now a synonym of Afissa flavicollis.[2][3]
Due to similarities with the species Epilachna borealis, it would be synonymized with Epilachna in 1961 by C.S. Li and E.F. Cook. In 2015, Szawaryn et al. would resurrect the genus from synonymy with Epilachna based on phylogenetic analysis of the genus. Furthermore, they would also propose that most Asian species formerly classified as belonging to Epilachna were actually apart of genus Afissa.[4][2]
Species
This genus contains numerous species. Below is a list of species that belong to this genus:[1]
- Afissa ampliata (Pang & Mao, 1979)
- Afissa anhweiana Dieke, 1947
- Afissa antennata (Bielawski, 1967)
- Afissa burmana (Bielawski, 1967)
- Afissa chapaensis (Hoang, 1977)
- Afissa craspedotricha (Yu, 2004)
- Afissa cuonaensis Iqbal et al. 2024[5]
- Afissa expansa Dieke, 1947
- Afissa flavicollis (Thunberg, 1781)
- Afissa flavimarginalis (Hoang, 1978)
- Afissa galerucinoides (Korschefsky, 1934)
- Afissa gedeensis Dieke, 1947
- Afissa gibbera (Crotch, 1874)
- Afissa hydrangeae (Pang & Mao, 1979)
- Afissa hyla (Bielawski, 1967)
- Afissa kambaitana (Bielawski, 1967)
- Afissa langpingensis Das et al. 2023[6]
- Afissa max Pang et al., 2012
- Afissa merkli (Jadwiszczak, 1989)
- Afissa mysticoides (Sicard, 1913)
- Afissa nielamuensis (Pang & Mao, 1977)
- Afissa nonggangensis (Zeng & Yang, 1996)
- Afissa parvula (Crotch, 1874)
- Afissa plicata (Weise, 1889)
- Afissa puncta (Bielawski, 1967)
- Afissa rana (Kapur, 1958)
- Afissa sadonensis (Bielawski, 1967)
- Afissa sanscrita (Crotch, 1874)
- Afissa schawalleri Iqbal et al. 2024[5]
- Afissa similbengalica Iqbal et al. 2024[5]
- Afissa spatulata (Cao & Xiao, 1984)
- Afissa sureilica Das et al. 2023[6]
- Afissa uniformis (Pang & Mao, 1979)
- Afissa xuexii Wang et al. 2025[7]
- Afissa yunnanica (Cao & Wang, 1992)
Distribution
This genus occurs throughout the continent of Eurasia and Africa.[1][3] There have been more than 30 species that have been recorded from China. However the taxonomy of many Chinese species remains poorly studied and many species that were formerly assigned to Epilachna are in need of further examination.[2]
Description
The morphology and size of species belonging to Afissa vary greatly unlike genus Epilachna whose species are nearly homogeneous and hardly differ in morphology. Their spot patterns are also varied.[3]
Biology
Little is known about the biology of genus Afissa. They are apparently not a pest species which is due to their populations being low and their main plant food sources being of low economic importance.[3]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Afissa". https://www.gbif.org/taxon/CFCBX.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Zhang, Xinning; Zhu, Zihao; Wang, Xingmin (2026-09-01). "On two new species of the genus Afissa Dieke, 1947 (Coccinellidae, Epilachnini) from southwestern China" (in en). ZooKeys (Pensoft Publishers) 1291: 39–54. doi:10.3897/zookeys.1291.193001. ISSN 1313-2970. https://zookeys.pensoft.net/article/193001/.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Dieke, Gerhard Heinrich (1947). "Ladybeetles of the genus Epilachna (Sens. Lat.) in Asia, Europe, and Australia" (in en). Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections. http://hdl.handle.net/10088/22798.
- ↑ Szawaryn, Karol; Bocak, Ladislav; Ślipiński, Adam; Escalona, Hermes E.; Tomaszewska, Wioletta (2015). "Phylogeny and evolution of phytophagous ladybird beetles (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae: Epilachnini), with recognition of new genera" (in en). Systematic Entomology 40 (3): 547–569. doi:10.1111/syen.12121. ISSN 1365-3113. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/syen.12121.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Iqbal, Zafar; Azad, Rashid; Nasir, Muhammad Farooq; Bodlah, Imran; Zaman, Maid; Hassan, Muhammad Asghar; Hayat, Aliya; Naz, Falak et al. (2025-01-02). "Review of ladybird tribe Epilachnini Mulsant, 1846 (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) from Pakistan". Oriental Insects (Taylor & Francis) 59 (1): 54–100. doi:10.1080/00305316.2024.2374352. ISSN 0030-5316. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00305316.2024.2374352.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Das, Priyanka & Banerjee, Dhriti & Gupta, Devanshu. (2023). New Records and New Combinations of Ladybird Beetles from India (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae). Records of the Zoological Survey of India. 77-84. 10.26515/rzsi/v123/i2s/2023/172502.
- ↑ Wang, Lezhi; Yang, Qifan; Zhang, Quan; Wang, Xingmin (2025-05-30). "A new species of the genus Afissa Dieke, 1947 (Coleoptera, Coccinellidae) from China" (in en). Biodiversity Data Journal (Pensoft Publishers) 13. doi:10.3897/BDJ.13.e156613. ISSN 1314-2828. PMC 12144553. https://bdj.pensoft.net/article/156613/.
Wikidata ☰ Q108068582 entry
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