Cladodes Solier, 1849

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 : 290

Cladodes Solier, 1849 ( Figure 3 C – E )

Cladodes can be distinguished from the other taxa at the Serra dos Órgãos by the following combination of characters: flabellate antenna; laterotergite strongly sclerotised and triangular; absence of lanterns on sterna VI and VII; and paramere without dorso-lateral projections. Clypeus may be medially or completely connate to frons, or connected to it by membrane. Interestingly, this genus has interspecific variation in the agonistic smell (i.e. delivered when disturbed): while some have a wooden, perfume-like smell (e.g. C. stellata Gorham 1880 , Fig. 11), others have a ‘ wet dog ’ -like smell ( C. illigeri (Kirby 1818) , Fig. 10). Note that this is entirely different from the well-known grass-like smell of most taxa such, as Ethra (see above), or the almond-like smell of Memoan ( Silveira and Mermudes, 2013) . Though the chemical basis for such differences is yet unknown, these differences can help sorting species in the field, which could be especially useful to discriminate among mimetic species. Females and immature stages unknown. Cladodes is currently under review, and its definition will substantially change soon (Bocakova et al. in prep.).

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.