Descriptions of immature stages of six aphidophagous Coccinellini (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) species from China

The morphological diversity of ladybird beetle larvae can provide supplementary evidence for taxonomic identification. However, studies on the larval morphology of Coccinellidae are very limited. In this study, the immature stages of six species from the tribe Coccinellini are examined, including Phrynocaria unicolor (Fabricius, 1792) and Microcaria pupillata (Swartz, 1808), which are described for the first time, as well as re-examination of Cheilomenes sexmaculata (Fabricius, 1781), Harmonia dimidiata (Fabricius, 1781), Harmonia sedecimnotata (Fabricius, 1801) and Coelophora biplagiata (Swartz, 1808).

The illustrations, and brief diagnoses for identification of the fourth instar larvae and pupae of examined species are provided. Larval morphology of other Harmonia Mulsant, Cheilomenes Dejean, Phrynocaria Timberlake and Coelophora Mulsant species are also compared.