Photuroluciola Pic

Ballantyne, Lesley A. & Lambkin, Christine, 2009, Systematics of Indo-Pacific fireflies with a redefinition of Australasian Atyphella Olliff, Madagascan Photuroluciola Pic, and description of seven new genera from the Luciolinae (Coleoptera: Lampyridae), Zootaxa 1997, pp. 1-188 : 75-76

Photuroluciola Pic

( Figs 38–54)

Photuroluciola Pic, 1931:12 .

Luciola (Photuroluciola) (Pic) . McDermott, 1966:115. Fu & Ballantyne, 2008: 6.

Type species. Photuroluciola deplanata Pic (by monotypy).

Diagnosis. Known in collections from a single large, brightly coloured specimen with pinkish orange pronotum and black elytra; midlateral margins of pronotum elevated (margins appear sinuate from side); aedeagus with asymmetrical ML having an acute apex which is finely serrate along its dorsal edges; ML bearing infolding flaps behind its apex; left LL with preapical flap (right LL lacks this flap); LL just visible at sides of ML, both apices not visible in same plane, separated in apical 1/3; aedeagal sheath with sternite posterior to tergite articulations subparallel-sided in basal 1/3, then unevenly emarginated on both sides and narrowing to a slender obliquely truncate apex.

Male. Pronotum dorsal surface lacking irregularities in posterolateral areas; longitudinal grooves delimit edges in lateral areas; punctation dense. Anterior margin not explanate.

Pronotum ( Figs 39, 40) wider across posterior area than rest; pronotal width less than humeral width. Anterolateral corners rounded obtuse; lateral margins in anterior half divergent posteriorly; lateral margins in posterior half diverge further beyond line of anterior half, then converge such that posterolateral corners are broadly rounded and lateral margins appear sinuous from above; lacking indentation at mid-point; lateral margin elevated in median area (viewed from the side) appearing as a sinuousity in vertical plane; lacking indentation in lateral margin near posterolateral corner, and irregularities at corner; posterolateral corners rounded, obtuse; posterolateral corners do not project as far as the median posterior margin and are not separated from it by a shallow emargination.

Hypomera closed. Median area of hypomeron elevated vertically; anterior area of hypomeron not flat to side of head, posterior half widely flat and closely adpressed; pronotal width/ GHW index 1.6.

Elytron ( Figs 39, 40) punctation dense, not linear, not as large as pronotum, nor widely and evenly spaced; apices not deflexed; epipleuron and suture extend almost to apex but not around it, and lack any further expansion of either in apical half; 3 interstitial lines, none exceed suture; elytral carina absent; viewed from below in horizontal specimen epipleuron at base covers humerus and viewed from above arises anterior to posterior margin of the MS; epipleuron developed as a lateral ridge along most of its length; sutural margins approximate along most of their length in closed elytra; lateral margins parallel-sided.

Head moderately depressed between eyes; moderately exposed in front of pronotum, not capable of complete retraction within prothoracic cavity; eyes moderately separated beneath at level of posterior margin of mouthpart complex; eyes above labrum moderately separated; frons-vertex junction rounded, lacking median elevation; posterolateral eye excavation not strongly developed and not visible in resting head position; antennal sockets on head between eyes, not contiguous, separated by <ASW; clypeolabral suture present, flexible, not in front of anterior eye margin when viewed with labrum horizontal; outer edges of transverse labrum reach beyond inner edges of closed mandibles. Mouthparts functional; apical segment of labial palpi non–lunate, strongly flattened, shaped like a narrow triangle, 4 X as long as W, with inner edge entire not dentate or irregular. Antennae 11 segmented, length exceeds twice GHW; no segments flattened, shortened, or expanded; pedicel not produced; FS1 not shorter than pedicel.

Legs with inner tarsal claw not split; lacking MFC; no femora or tibiae swollen or curved; no basitarsi expanded or excavated.

Abdomen ( Figs 45–47) lacking cuticular remnants in association with aedeagal sheath; no ventrites with curved posterior margins nor extending anteriorly into emarginated posterior margin of anterior segment; LO in V7 entire, reaching to sides, close to posterior margin, narrowly into MPP; neither anterior nor posterior margin of LO in V7 emarginate; posterior half of V7 not arched or swollen, muscle impressions not visible in this area; LO present in V6, occupying almost all the area. MPP present, symmetrical, apex rounded when viewed from beneath (is dorsally emarginated if viewed from behind, reflecting the dorsal groove of the MPP), entire, strongly laterally compressed, L >> W, not inclined dorsally nor engulfed by the apex of T8, lacking dorsal ridge and ventral median longitudinal trough; narrow dorsal median longitudinal groove along dorsal surface extending to posterior end. V7 lacking median carina, median longitudinal trough, anteromedian depression on face of LO, PLP, incurving lobes or pointed projections, median ‘dimple’, or reflexed lobes. T7 lacking prolonged posterolateral corners. T8 not strongly sclerotised, symmetrical, W=L, visible posterior area does not narrow abruptly, lacking prolonged posterolateral corners, median posterior emargination, median posterior projections, not inclined ventrally, nor engulfing the posterior margin of V7 nor the MPP, not extending conspicuously beyond posterior margin of V7; T8 ventral surface lacking flanges, lateral depressed troughs, median longitudinal trough, (except for oblique curved groove in posterolateral right and short straight groove in posteromedian right), asymmetrical projections, median posterior ridge; concealed anterolateral arms of T8 present, not as long as visible posterior portion, broad and slightly emarginated anteriorly, not laterally emarginated before origins, not expanded dorsoventrally, apices lacking bifurcation of inner margin and bases lacking ventrally directed pieces; lateral margins of T8 not enfolding V7 at sides.

Aedeagal sheath ( Figs 38, 41–44) 3.4 X as long as wide; lacking paraprocts; asymmetrical only in posterior area of sternite; sternite evenly wide, approximately parallel-sided for 7/10 its length; sternite emarginated on both sides in posterior area; emargination of right side begins 1/3 of sternite length from posterior apex, is wider and deeper than left emargination which begins 1/5 of length from posterior apex, which is very narrow and obliquely truncate from right to left; anterior half of sternite broad, apically rounded; narrowed lateral arms of tergite visible at sides of tergite, join sternite at 4/10 of its length from anterior end; tergite not laterally subdivided; transverse line divides tergite into anterior and posterior portions; paired subtriangular pieces project along this line, lacking transverse band across anterior area of sheath tergite.

Aedeagus ( Figs 48–55) L/W 5.6; LL lacking lateral appendages, apices may not both be visible from beneath at sides of ML depending on orientation; LL/ML narrow (1.9/1); LL of equal length, little shorter than ML, slightly separated along inner margins, converging at their apices; separation of LL begins at 11/16 their length from anterior margin (measured along median line dorsally); LL base width narrower than that of ML and not = LL apex width; apices of LL not expanded horizontally, strongly expanded vertically (LL appear very narrow when viewed from beneath); dorsal base of LL symmetrical, evenly excavated; LL lacking lateral hairy appendages or leaf–like lobes along their outer ventral margins, which are not produced preapically nor narrowly on their inner apical margin, not obliquely truncate along their preapical inner margins; left LL with rounded flap arising on its inner margin just behind flap on ML; ML asymmetrical, asymmetry due to curvature of ML; ML apex in shape of arrowhead, narrow and pointed when viewed from left, groove on ventral surface of ML follows curve of ML, begins in basal 1/3 to left side of ML, preapically enfolded on ventral side by ML flap and on left lateral, narrowly, by down turned margins of the ML which are finely rugulose along their margins; BP not very narrow, not strongly sclerotised, not hooded, not strongly emarginated along anterior margin.

Female and Larva unknown.