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jewel beetles           flower beetles         darkling beetles         ant beetles ____________________________________________________________________________________________ THE LADYBIRDS (COL., COCCINELLIDAE) OF THÁSOS There is little information available on the ladybirds of Thásos. The only  records previously published appear to be those of Karnozickij (1959), who recorded six species in October 1942 and May 1943. My own collecting has added a further twenty-three species to the island list and I am grateful to Dr Roger Booth for the majority of the identifications. Two taxa are only provisionally identified. There will undoubtedly be more species to be found on Thásos  but so far I have not found any literature to enable the island's known fauna to be put into context. Oertzen (1886) lists 52 species for Greece (although there will have been many additions since), whilst Kreissl (1995) reports on ladybirds recorded on the Ionian island of Zakynthos in September 1991 and lists twelve species. The exotic ladybird Harmonia axyridis has not been reported from Thásos, although hundreds of thousands were released in southern Greece between 1994 and 1999 for biological control purposes. These populations did not survive and it seems that southern Greece, at least, is unsuitable for Harmonia (Kontodimas et al 2007).   There is no key available to identify the ladybirds of Greece, but  many of the traditional ladybirds (Coccinellini) recorded are widely distributed across Europe and hence covered by a variety of identification guides. Lithophilus creticus, however, is a south-eastern species reported from Greece and Asia Minor. Lithophilus  species are covered by Iablokoff-Khnzorian (1974) whilst Fürsch et al (1967) present a taxonomic revision of the European species of Scymnus s.str.   CHECKLIST Adalia bipunctata (L.) Adalia 10-punctata (L.) Clitostethus arcuatus (Rossi) Coccidula rufa (Herbst) Coccinella 7-punctata L. Coccinulla 14-pustulata (L.) Chilocorus bipustulatus (L.) Exochomus flavipes Thunberg Exochomus quadripustulatus L. Harmonia quadripunctata (Pontoppidan) Hippodamia (Adonia) variegata (Goeze) Lithophilus creticus Reitter Myrrha 18-guttata (L.) Nephus bipunctatus Kugel Nephus ludyi Weise Nephus quadrimaculatus (Herbst) Propylea 14-punctata (L.) Psyllobora 22-punctata (L.) Rhyzobius lophanthae (Blaisdell) Scymnus auritus Thunberg Scymnus frontalis (Fabricius) Scymnus ?pallipediformis Gunther Scymnus rubromaculatus (Goeze) Scymnus subvillosus (Goeze) Scymnus suturalis Thunberg Stethorus ?gilvifrons (Mulsant) Subcoccinella 24-punctata (L.) Tytthaspis 16-punctata L. Vibidia 12-guttata (Poda)   REFERENCES   Fürsch, H. Kreissl, E. & Capra, F. 1967. Revision einiger europäischer Scymnus (s.str.) - Arten. Mitt. Abt. Zool. Bot. Landesmus. "Joanneum" Graz, 28: 1-53. Iablokoff-Khnzorian, S.M. 1974. Monographie der gattung Lithophilus Froelich (Col., Coccinellidae). Ent. Arb. Mus. Frey, 25: 148-243. Karnozickij, N. 1959. Materialien zur Koleopteren-Fauna der Agäischen Küste und Insel Thasos. Izv. zool. Inst. Sof., 8: 237-253. Kontodimas, D.C., Stathas, G.J. & Martinou, A.F. 2007. The status of Harmonia axyridis  (Pallas) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) in Greece: a case of an exotic predator that failed to establish? Entomologia Hellenica, 17: 4-51. Kreissl, E. 1995. Zur Coccinellidenfauna der Insel Zakynthos (Zante) (Col., Coccinellidae). Entomologische Nachricten und Berichte, 38: 270-271 Oertzen, E. v. 1886. Verzeichniss der Coleopteren Griechenlands und Cretas. Berliner Entomolog. Zeitschrift, 30: 189-293.