Amydetes Illiger, 1807

Silveira, Luiz F L, Khattar, Gabriel, Vaz, Stephanie, Wilson, Vinicius A., Souto, Paula M., Mermudes, José R. M., Stanger-Hall, Kathrin F., Macedo, Margarete V. & Monteiro, Ricardo F., 2020, Natural history of the fireflies of the Serra dos Órgãos mountain range (Brazil: Rio de Janeiro) - one of the ‘ hottest’ firefly spots on Earth, with a key to genera (Coleoptera: Lampyridae), Journal of Natural History 54 (5 - 6), pp. 275-308 : 288

Amydetes Illiger, 1807 ( Figure 3 A )

Amydetes is characterised by the presence of an antenna with more than 20 antennomeres, a remarkable feature among insects ( Minelli 2017), and a row of dense bristles in the metacoxa ( Silveira and Mermudes 2014a). The complex antenna, which is allometric and very often asymmetric ( Nunes et al. 2020), likely helps males in finding sessile, probably flightless females, but the latter remain unknown. The genus was recently reviewed by Silveira and Mermudes (2014a) showing a diversity of circadian habits across species – some are diurnal, others nocturnal. All species, diurnal or nocturnal, glow with a green, bluish-green light ( Viviani 2001; LS pers. obs.). Females and immature stages unknown.

Figures

Figure 3. Diversity of fireflies of the Serra dos Órgãos, including Amydetinae, Psilocladinae, Lampyrinae, and Incertae sedis taxa. A – Amydetes fastigiata, B – Magnoculus obscurus, C – Cladodes pauper, D – Cladodes illigeri, E – Cladodes stellata, F – Vesta thoracica, G – Araucariocladus hiems (modified from Silveira and Mermudes 2017), H – Psilocladus grandis, I – Psilocladus sigillatus, J – Psilocladus pulcher, K – Scissicauda disjuncta (modified from Silveira et al. 2016a), L – Ethra axillaris, M – Ethra marginata, N – Ethra addita, O – Ethra inculta. Scale bar: 2 mm.