Medeopteryx timida ( Olivier 1883 ) 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 : 114-116

Medeopteryx timida ( Olivier 1883) comb. nov.

Figs 345–355

Luciola timida Olivier 1883: 76 ; 1891: 596; 1902: 87 1913a: 417. Bourgeois 1890: 169. Ballantyne et al. 2016 figs 56–59, 62 and Table 4 .

Type. Female. VIETNAM. Saigon. Labelled: 1 Handwritten ‘ Luciola timida Ern Oliv. ’; 2. Green printing on white card ‘Saigon’. MNHN. At least one male from this same locality standing alongside the female has a handwritten label in Olivier’s writing and could be considered a syntype. MNHN .

Other specimens examined. VIETNAM. Saigon. male ( MNHN) ( Fig. 345 ) . This male also stands alongside the type female but does not bear any type labels. NEW GUINEA: Fergusson I ix–xii 1894 A.S. Meek 2 females. Kiriwini Trobriand Is iii–v. 1896 A.S. Meek female. ( MNHN) .

Diagnosis. A small species (6 mm long) with orange pronotum and very dark brown elytra which are orange margined narrowly along the lateral margins; most obviously distinguished by the anterior emargination of the entire LO in V7 and the posterior outlines of both V7 and T8; the MPP is wide and apically acute bearing small dorsally curving hooks along its lateral margins (these hooks are not obviously visible from below); T8 is strongly produced posteriorly into two acute prolongations which border the strong median emargination. Elytral apices ae not deflexed and a MFC does not appear to be present (see below).

Redescription of male. 5.7–6.1 mm long. Colour ( Figs 345, 346 ): pronotum bright orange; MS and MN dingy orange yellow; elytra very dark brown with lateral margin narrowly orange in anterior half; head between eyes black; antennae incomplete, segments dark brown; venter of pro and mesothorax orange, of metathorax dark brown; legs brown with darker brown tibiae and tarsi; basal abdominal ventrites brown; posterior margin of V5 narrowly and irregularly white; LO in V6, 7 appearing orange yellow; abdominal tergites pale mottled brown semitransparent with underlying fat body visible beneath cuticle; T8 semitransparent with two lateral lines of fat body visible beneath cuticle. Pronotum ( Fig. 345 ): lateral margins convex sided (B> A or C); width less than humeral width. Elytron: subparallel sided; apices not deflexed; no interstitial lines. Head: GHW 6 X SIW; ASD subequal to or slightly> ASW. Mouthparts: apical labial palpomere laterally flattened inner edge entire.Antennae: incomplete; FS filiform subequal in length to half FS1; FS1 subequal in length to scape. Legs: no MFC (see below); no segments expanded or excavated. Abdomen ( Figs 346−350 ): ventrites anterior to the LO not obviously emarginated across posterior margins; LO in V6 entire; LO in V7 entire, with small triangular median anterior emargination and extending to lateral margins and into MPP; PLP short rounded; MPP elongate extending well beyond PLP apices, and apically acute, bearing short slender dorsally curving projections along its lateral margins (basal areas of these projections not visible in dried specimen, visible after specimen was soaked in soapy water; see Figs 349, 350 ). T8: ventral surface with well-defined lateral ridges and apically rounded flanges which incline anteriorly with their apices curving upwards; anterolateral paired prolongations of tergite as long as posterior entire portion, expanded in horizontal plane and apically rounded; T7 with apically acute projecting posterolateral corners. Aedeagal sheath ( Figs 351−353 ) of the form of New Guinean Medeopteryx , without well-defined paraprocts. Aedeagus ( Figs 354, 355 ): b/a 0.5; LL very short separated along their dorsal surface by 2/3 their length.

Remarks. Bourgeois (1890) indicated he saw 8 specimens determined by Olivier and concluded that Olivier’s original specimen must have been a female (confirmed here).

We do not believe Med. timida has been recorded from New Guinea, and no observations of collections of that fauna have revealed any males. Olivier (1913a) listed several New Guinean records for this species from islands of Kiriwina, Fergusson and Trobriand. LB examined 3 females in his collection (in MNHN) which he had placed to one side alongside males which were labelled as L. timida . In the absence of reliably associated males it is impossible to assign these females and LB observed three slightly different patterns to the outlines of the terminal ventrites, and concluded that the two females from Fergusson Is were not conspecific but we were unable to determine their correct identity. Ballantyne et al. (2016) figured certain aspects of this species as Luciola timida .

Because we do not yet know the function of the MFC we are unable to assess just what degree of aggregation of hairs at the end of the femur could constitute a MFC and have indicated we believe it is absent in these specimens.

Figures

FIGURES 345−355. Medeopteryx timida comb. nov. Saigon male (MNHN). 345 habitus dorsal; 346 habitus ventral; 347, 348 terminal abdomen: 347 ventral; 348 dorsal; 349, 350 dissected terminal abdomen after soaking in soapy water for an hour: 349 ventral (base of lateral hooks on ML arrowed); 350 left lateral (hooks arising from ML arrowed); 351−353 aedeagal sheath: 351 left lateral; 352 ventral; 353 dorsal; 354, 355 aedeagus: 354 ventral; 355 right lateral.