Vesta Laporte, 1833

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 : 303

Vesta Laporte, 1833 ( Figure 3 F )

Vesta can be distinguished from other taxa in the region by the combination of flabellate antenna; clypeus connate to frons; laterotergite coriaceus and subquadrate; lanterns absent from sterna VI and VII; and paramere with a dorsolateral projection. Sexual dimorphism is manifest mainly in the shape of the antenna, which has longer projections in males than in females. This genus has a rather uncommon biogeographic range, with some species in East and Southeast Asia and others in the Neotropics ( McDermott 1966). Previous authors have pointed out that this may be an artefact of the currently poor definition of the genus (e.g. McDermott 1964). Jeng et al. (2007) provided a synopsis of Taiwanese species of Vesta that will be important for a detailed taxonomic treatment of this taxon. Currently, only one species is recognised in Brazil, Vesta thoracica Olivier (1790) . 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.