Abstract
BackgroundThis work provides a preliminary inventory of West African Coccinellidae.This was based on the West African Coccinellidae (WAC) specimens in the holdings of insect collections at the Laboratoire de Zoologie des Invertébrés Terrestres at the Institut Fondamental d’Afrique Noire Cheikh Anta Diop (IFAN), Senegal and the Biodiversity Center at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITAB), Benin.New informationA total of 129 species representing 11 tribes and 40 genera is reported, including one species of the subfamily Microweiseinae and 128 species of the subfamily Coccinellinae. The geographic distribution of collection localities is presented for these species. Cheilomenes lunata (Fabricius, 1775), Cheilomenes propinqua (Mulsant, 1850), Cheilomenes sulphurea (Olivier, 1791), Chnootriba elaterii (Rossi, 1794), Chnootriba similis (Thunberg, 1781), Exochomus laeviusculus Weise, 1909, Hyperaspis delicatula (Mulsant, 1850) and Hyperaspis pumila Mulsant, 1850 are the best represented species in these collections.
Highlights
Natural history museums play a critical role in science and education (Gropp 2018, Holmes et al 2016)
Given the importance of coccinellids and the patchy knowledge of their diversity in West Africa, we summarised data about the taxonomic holdings of this family in Institut Fondamental d’Afrique Noire Cheikh Anta Diop (IFAN) and IITAB insect collections with the goals of raising the visibility of those institutions and providing a preliminary inventory of West African Coccinellidae (WAC)
Data records compiled from collection labels in the IFAN and IITAB insect collections show that both collections combined provide an historical record of West African coccinellid diversity spanning over a century
Summary
This work provides a preliminary inventory of West African Coccinellidae. This was based on the West African Coccinellidae (WAC) specimens in the holdings of insect collections at the Laboratoire de Zoologie des Invertébrés Terrestres at the Institut Fondamental d’Afrique Noire Cheikh Anta Diop (IFAN), Senegal and the Biodiversity Center at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITAB), Benin. The geographic distribution of collection localities is presented for these species. (Mulsant, 1850) and Hyperaspis pumila Mulsant, 1850 are the best represented species in these collections. Coccinelloidea, Coccinellinae, distribution, diversity, insect collection, inventory, Microweiseinae, taxonomy, museum, systematics, lady beetles, ladybugs
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