Pygoluciola ambita ( Olivier 1896 ) Ho, 2019

Ho, - Z., 2019, The Luciolinae of S. E. Asia and the Australopacific region: a revisionary checklist (Coleoptera: Lampyridae) including description of three new genera and 13 new species, Zootaxa 4687 (1), pp. 1-174 : 125-127

Pygoluciola ambita ( Olivier 1896) comb. nov.

Figs 364−373

Luciola ambita Olivier 1896: 2 ; 1902: 74. McDermott 1966: 99. Ballantyne et al. 2016: figs 4–6, Tables 3 , 4 .

Type. Male. INDONESIA. Java. Labelled 1. Pink label handwritten ‘ Luciola ambita Ern’; 2. Printed ‘ Java occident Sukabumi 2000´1893 H. Fruhstorfer’ ( MNHN) ( Fig. 367 ) .

Other specimen examined. INDONESIA. Java. Male (Prague).

Diagnosis. 11.0–12.0 mm long. Colour ( Figs 364−366, 368, 369 ): orange pronotum (retraction of fat body be- neath cuticle gives appearance of darker markings in middle area see Fig. 364 ); MS with median dark brown area; elytra brown with lateral and sutural margins and apex orange yellow; LO in V7 retracted from all margins; MPP in V7 short narrow and apically acute.

Redescription of male. 11.0–12.0 mm long. Colour: pronotum and MN orange (non type male has dingy brown markings over much of surface which may be due to retraction of fat body beneath cuticle); MS with orange margins and median dark brown area; elytra brown with yellowish orange lateral apical and sutural margins and orange marked humeri; head between eyes, antennae and palpi very dark almost black; ventral aspect of thorax dark brown; all legs brown with all tibiae and tarsi almost black; abdominal ventrites 3–5 dark brown with narrow anterior and posterior margins of each ventrite pale yellow ( Fig. 369 ), widening in median area; LO creamy white, lateral and posterior margins of V7 yellowish semitransparent; tergites ( Fig. 368 ) dark brown except for T7, 8 which are yellow and semitransparent. Pronotum ( Fig. 364 ): lateral margins strongly divergent posteriorly (C> A, B) with posterolateral corners produced a little beyond posterior margin; width subequal to humeral width. Elytron: inner two interstitial lines faintly defined; elytral punctuation not in parallel lines. Head: GHW/SIW 7/1; ASD <ASW; antennal FS simple longer than wide, length> GHW but not 2 x GHW. Mouthparts: apical labial palpomere laterally flattened of the form of a broad triangle with inner edge dentate (6 teeth). Abdomen ( Figs 365, 366, 368, 369 ): LO retracted from all margins of V7 lateral margins converge slightly posteriorly with angulate corners leading onto rounded posterior margin; MPP short narrow and apically acute. T8 parallel sided with anterolateral arms elongate slender, not bearing membranous projection on inner ventral surface; posterior margin truncate with slightly obliquely truncated corners, margin not inclining ventrally ( Fig. 368 ). Aedeagal sheath ( Fig. 373 ): sternite elongate slender expanding at apex into paired sclerotized portions which end in bulbous hairy lobes. Aedeagus ( Figs 370−372 ): elongate slender widest across bases of LL; LL only slightly separated along their middorsal length and with base asymmetrical, produced strongly to left; ML reaching just beyond basal portion; apical membranous sections of LL as wide at base as at apex.

Remarks. Olivier (1896) described this species with serial elytral punctures (meaning the punctures were in parallel lines). Ballantyne et al. (2016 Table 3 ) addressed 12 species of Luciolinae described originally with elytral punctures in lines; of these they assigned six to a new genus Sclerotia Ballantyne. They figured the type of L. ambita ( Figs 4−6 ) and dismissed, as we do here, the Olivier assertion of serial elytral punctuation.

Ballantyne et al. (2016) also listed in their Table 4 eight genera and 21 species having a pale coloured pronotum and dark elytra with pale margins. Within Luciola s. lato sensu Ballantyne they listed 13 species with this colour pattern, including an Indian variety of Sclerotia aquatilis where the pale margins do not extend around the elytral apex. They were unable to reliably identify specimens of Luciola nicollieri Bugnion , which was described and figured with dark elytra having lateral and sutural margins and apex pale, pronotal width just wider than humeral width and posterolateral corners of the pronotum prolonged as in this species. However neither Bugnion’s diagrams of the ventral surface including its colouration, nor the outline of the terminal ventrites, suggest this species.

Figures

FIGURES 364−373. Pygoluciola ambita comb. nov. males. 366, 367 type male Luciola ambita (MNHN); 364, 365, 368−373 Java male (Prague). 364 habitus dorsal; 365, 366 habitus ventral; 368, 369 abdomen: 368 dorsal; 369 ventral; 370−372 ae- deagus: 370 ventral; 371 dorsal; 372 left lateral; 373 aedeagal sheath ventral with aedeagus contained. Scale lines are 1 mm.

FIGURES 1−8. Key to genera characters 1. 1, 2 Australoluciola anthracina type male (MNHN); 3, 4 Aus. japenensis paratype male; 5, 6 Atyphella scabra male; 7, 8 Aty. leucura type male (MNHN). 1, 2, 5, 6 aedeagus ventral (1, 5), and dorsal (2, 6) (lateral lobes are arrowed). 3, 4, 7, 8 aedeagal sheath dorsal (3, 7), and ventral (4, 8). Oblique arrows in anterior section indicate point where tergite arms join the lateral margins of the sheath sternite; vertical arrow pointing to foot of page in 3 indicates anterior margin of sheath tergite; vertical and horizontal lines in 4 indicate length (vertical) and width (horizontal) of sheath sternite; lower paired arrows in 8 indicate emarginated margin of sheath sternite.