Synonyms
Diomini Gordon, 1999: 3.
Diagnosis
Small to medium-sized (2-4 mm). Body convex, brown or black, sometimes with colour pattern; winged or wingless; dorsum shortly setose; antennal insertions exposed; antennal groove on underside weak. Eye large, finely facetted, without ocular canthus, interfacetal setae absent. Mandible bidentate apically; prostheca and mola present. Maxillary palp short and stout, terminal palpomere expanded to securiform. Antenna slightly shorter than head, 11-10-segmented, with 3-segmented club, scape slim. Pronotum transverse, hypomeron without foveae; prosternum long in front of coxae; prosternal process moderately broad, usually carinate. Meso-metaventrite broadly articulated, usually arcuate anteriorly with metaventrite extending well forward and making mesoventrite very short. Tarsi 3-4-segmented. Abdomen with 6 ventrites; abdominal postcoxal line merging with hind marginof first ventrite. Ovipositor with coxites transverse, stylus absent; spermatheca complex, worm-like; infundibulum and bursal plate present. Penis with distinct capsule, often complex; penis guide asymmetrical.
Distribution and Biology
Worldwide but mostly in tropical and subtropical areas; feeding on various Hemiptera.
Tribe References
Gordon, R D. 1999. South American Coccinellidae (Coleoptera), part VI: a systematic revision of the South American Diomini, new tribe (Scymninae). Annales Zoologici, 49 (Supplement 1): 1-219.
Slipinski, A. 2007. Australian Ladybird Beetles (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) their biology and classification. ABRS, Canberra. 286 pp.
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