Distinction between two species of the genus exochomus redtenb. (coleoptera : coccinellidae)‎ in Iraq

Abstract EN

The present paper attempts to establish a distinction between Exochomus negripennis (Er.) and E.

quadripustulatus L., depending on the characters of femoral line, male genitalia and spermatheca.

INTRODUCTION The genus Exochomus Redtenb.

belongs to tribe Chilocorini subfamily Chilocoriniae family Coccinellidae (Furch, 1979).

The species of this genus are predaceous beetles feeding on small bodied insects, including especialy aphids, scale insects and mealybug; because of their predatory habits, they are considered highly benificial.

The species E.

negripennis and E.

quadripustulastus are a predators of the aphids Thelaxes suberis Delgo.

(Stary and kaddou, 1975).

E.flavipes (Thunb.) is a predator of the aphids Rhopalosiphum madis Fitch and Aphis faba Theobald in Pakistan (Irshad, 2001).

E.

flavipes is a predator of Dactylopius confusus Ckll.

(Homoptera : Dactylopidae) and Ferrisia virgita (Ckll.) (Homoptera : Pseudococcidae), and the species E.

lituratus Gorh.

is predator of Adelges joshii S.O.

and S.

(Homoptera : Adelgidae) and Dioryctria abetella Schiff (Lepedoptera : Pyralididae) in Pakistan (Irshad 2001).

E nigromaculatus (Goeze) is a predator of the aphid Hylopteerus pruni (Goeffroy) in eastern Turkey (Atlihan and Ozgokce, 2002).

The species E.

negripennis is recorded for Iraq by (Khalf, 1963) and the species E.

quadripustulatus are recorded for Iraq by (Roberts, 1972) and for the aim of distinction between these two species this work has been done.