MULTIVARIATE ANALYSES OF ELYTRAL SPOT PATTERNS IN THE PHYTOPHAGOUS LADYBIRD BEETLE EPILACHNA-VIGINTIOCTOPUNCTATA (COLEOPTERA, COCCINELLIDAE) IN THE PROVINCE OF SUMATERA-BARAT, INDONESIA

We analyzed geographic trends of elytral spot variations in the phytop hagous ladybird beetle Epilachna vigintioctopunctata in the Province o f Sumatera Barat, Indonesia. An UPGMA analysis revealed two distinct c lusters of populations, one of which was further subdivided into two m inor clusters. A principal component analysis also indicated the prese nce of the two major clusters. However, a closer analysis of the data suggested that the two clusters represented a complicated intraspecifi c variation rather than two distinct taxa. The dichotomy of the popula tions seemed to be caused by the pausity of samples at particular alti tudes, which makes a continuous series of variation as if they are com posed of two distinct subsets. The first two principal components acco unted for approximately 90% of the variance. The first component mainl y expressed the number of elytral spots, and the scores increased with an increase of altitude. The second component expressed the frequenci es of particular types of spot confluences.