An annotated checklist of Coccinellidae with four new records from Pakistan (Coleoptera, Coccinellidae)

Abstract Some new ladybird (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) records collected during the last four years across Sindh are reported. A first preliminary checklist of ladybirds from Sindh is presented, consisting of one subfamily, ten tribes, 21 genera, and 29 species including four new records, namely Bulaealichatschovii (Hummel), Exochomuspubescens Küster, Scymnus (Pullus) latemaculatus Motschulsky, Scymnus (Pullus) syriacus Marseul, and four varieties of the species Cheilomenessexmaculatus (Fabricius).


Introduction
According to the most recent classification, the family Coccinellidae comprises two subfamilies: Microweiseinae Leng, 1920and Coccinellinae Latreille, 1807(sensu Slipinski 2007 based on phylogenetic results (Seago et al. 2011). These changes impact the status of various traditionally recognized tribes and subfamilies, as the onlysub-families now recognized are Microweiseinae and Coccinellinae (Canepari et al. 2016). Microweiseinae comprises three tribes: Carinodulini, Microweiseini, and Serangiini whereas Coccinellinae consists of only two tribes: Coccinellini and Chilocorini (Robertson et al. 2015) Worldwide, nearly 6000 species spanning nearly 360 genera are known. Approximately 90 % of the species are predators of aphids, coccids, psyllids, aleyrodids, chrysomelid larvae, and mites, the remainder being herbivorous or mycetophagous (Inayatullah 1984, Majerus 1994, Obrycki and Kring 1998, Iperti and Bertand 2001, Vandenberg 2002, Hodek 2012.The Coccinellidae are an important group of beetles from both an economic standpoint in their use as biological control agents and in their diversity and adaptation to a number of differing habitats (Michels 1987).
From Pakistan, Ahmad and Ghani (1966, 1968, 1970, 1973, Inayatullah and Siddiqui (1978, 1979, and Ali et al. (2012) worked on different species of the family Coccinellidae; Iablokoff-Khnzorian (1986) described a new species Adalia puetzi from Pakistan; Hashmi and Tashfeen (1992) studied the coccinellids housed in different institutions of Pakistan and reported 162 species, identifying the coccinellids deposited in the Natural History Museum, London, but with wrong synonymies. The present authors tried to trace this valuable collection of coccinellids in the present institutions in Karachi and other cities of Pakistan but found very few coccinellids. The authors also tried to correct the wrong synonymies and wrong identifications mentioned in the above-mentioned paper with the help of checklists and taxonomic papers available. Irshad (2001) listed 71 species of coccinellids in Pakistan; Rafi et al. (2005) gave a brief external morphology of predatory coccinellids of northern parts of Pakistan with special reference to their hosts, prey and localities, and listed 37 genera and 75 species belonging to different tribes of subfamilies Chilocorinae, Coccidulinae, Coccinellinae, Scymninae, and Sticholotidinae. All listed species are very common in Pakistan and represent a much less complete inventory than that of Hashmi and Tashfeen (1992). Otherwise, the description of genitalia was totally absent. Ali et al. (2012Ali et al. ( , 2013Ali et al. ( , 2015 conducted a systematic study from Sindh Province for the first time. They listed 29 coccinellids with four new records and four varieties of Cheilomenes sexmaculatus.
The coccinellid fauna of Sindh, Pakistan is insufficiently known, and no checklist exists. The goal of this paper is to contribute to the knowledge of diversity and distribution of ladybirds in Sindh as well as to present the first preliminary checklist of the species recorded previously in the territory of Sindh.

Materials and methods
Ladybird records presented in this paper were collected, identified, and confirmed during the last four years by the authors following the checklists, descriptions, and keys given by Chapin and Ahmad (1966), Pang and Gordon (1986), Poorani (2004), and Rafi et al. (2005), and with the help of the following website: NBAIR (2009). Ladybirds were also identified and confirmed by Dr. Claudio Canepari (Societa Entomologica Italiana), an authority on the family Coccinellidae. Specimens were collected during field trips conducted in different parts of Sindh Province, and in reality represent random findings instead of systematic collecting. Beetles were collected in standard ways, including manual collecting, net sweeping, and using light traps. The terminologies for various taxonomic structures including genitalia and procedures used by Inayatullah and Siddiqui (1978) and Gordon (1985) were generally followed. The taxonomic structures, especially male and female genitalia, were preserved after illustration in microvials with glycerine and pinned with specimens.

Results
The coccinellids present in this checklist are classified on the basis of the new classification given by Seago et al. 2011, Robertson et al. 2015, and Canepari 2016 According to this classification all the coccinellids of the Sindh Province belong to the subfamily Coccinellinae only. It includes nine species of the tribe Coccinellini, one species of the Psylloborini, one species of the tribe Bulaeini, five species of the Chilocorini, one species of the Tribe Noviini Mulsant, one species from Tribe Hyperaspini, one species from the Coccinella septempunctata Linnaeus, 1758 Fig. 1 General distribution. India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Palaearctic. North America (Poorani 2002).
Comments. Newly recorded from Pakistan.

Discussion
Unfortunately, all the specimens were lost during the shifting of Vitoria Museum to National Museum at Karachi. From Pakistan very little taxonomic work has focussed especially on this important family of the order Coleoptera. Irshad (2001) listed 71 species of coccinellids from northern parts of Pakistan. Rafi et al. (2005) listed 37   genera and 75 species and described the only external morphology of predatory coccinellids mostly collected from northern parts of Pakistan with special reference with their hosts, prey, and localities.
Sindh Province has a rich insect fauna which have diversified into important cities like Karachi, Tandojam, Hyderabad, Larkana, Sukhur, and Mirpur Khas. Coccinellids fauna is still incompletely recorded from Sindh region and has been neglected in the past. All the research findings on coccinellids except Ali (2013) were documentary not taxonomic. No proper collections, identification procedures,or techniques have been used in Sindh to explore the hidden records of insects, including the coccinellid fauna. Ali (2013) worked more comprehensively on the systematics and distribution of ladybirds of Sindh Province with reference to their role in biological control programmes. He tried to highlight the importance of systematic study to make easy their identification as predators of mealybugs, aphids, jassids, whiteflies, and scale insects. This research work may be useful for the entomologists including research students of particularly the Sindh region, but also of Pakistan and other Oriental regions. The geographical distribution and synonyms used in this study for all systematically treated specimens were cited from the findings of Hashmi and Tashfeen (1992).
The present investigation continues the research carried by Ali (2013), and gives a preliminary checklist of ladybirds from Sindh consisting of only one subfamily, ten tribes, 21 genera, and 29 species including four new records: Bulaea lichatschovii (Hummel), Exochomus pubescens Küster, Scymnus (Pullus) latemaculatus Motschulsky, Scymnus (Pullus) syriacus Marseul and four varieties of Menochilus sexmaculata (Fabricius). All these coccinellids from Pakistan are now placed into the subfamily Coccinellinae and the subfamily Microweiseinae according to the recent classification studies. The coccinellid specimens were deposited in the Natural History Museum, Department of Zoology, University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan.