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Arthropods, 2026, 15(1): 57-77
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Article

Catalogue of tri-trophic associations of aphidophagous Micraspis Chevrolat species (Coccinellidae: Coleoptera) in India

Rajendra Singh1, Abhishek Kumar Gupta2
1Department of Zoology, Deen Dayal Upadhaya Gorakhpur University, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India
2Department of Zoology, D.A.V. Post Graduate College, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India

Received 7 August 2025;Accepted 10 October 2025;Published online 10 October 2025;Published 1 March 2026
IAEES

Abstract
The current checklist highlights the tri-trophic interactions involving five species of Micraspis Chevrolat (Coccinellidae: Coleoptera), namely, Micraspis allardi (Mulsant), Micraspis discolor (Fabricius), Micraspis tenuilinea (Walker), Micraspis univittata (Hope), and Micraspis yasumatsui Sasaji, recorded from India in association with agricultural fields and orchards. Among them, Micraspis discolor is the most polyphagous, preying on 33 aphid species, followed by Micraspis univittata with 21, while the remaining species feed on 1 to 11 aphid species. Collectively, these ladybird species are known to consume 41 aphid species that infest 82 food crop plants across 23 Indian states and union territories, resulting in 203 recorded tri-trophic associations. The highest number of such associations has been observed in Uttar Pradesh (54), followed by West Bengal (48), Manipur (28), Odisha (23), and Bihar (21), with other regions reporting between 1 and 15 associations. These Micraspis species predominantly prey on aphids such as Aphis craccivora Koch, Aphis gossypii Glover, Brevicoryne brassicae (Linnaeus), Lipaphis erysimi (Kaltenbach), Melanaphis sacchari (Zehntner), Myzus persicae (Sulzer) and Rhopalosiphum maidis (Fitch), which infest both field crops (e.g., cereals, pulses, oilseeds, sugarcane, vegetables) and horticultural crops (e.g., citrus, mango, almond, oak, peach). It is important to note that the documentation of these aphidophagous ladybirds in India remains limited, and many states like Arunachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Ladakh, and Madhya Pradesh are yet to be thoroughly surveyed, underlining the need for their systematic exploration.

Keywords aphid;biological control;checklist;Coccinellidae;distribution;Micraspis;predator;tri-trophic associations.


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