Lyropaeus, Waterhouse, 1878

Masek, Michal, Ivie, Michael A., Palata, Vaclav & Bocak, Ladislav, 2014, Molecular phylogeny and classification of Lyropaeini (Coleoptera: Lycidae) with description of larvae and new species of Lyropaeus, Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 62, pp. 136-145 : 140-141

Lyropaeus (s. str.) sp. C

( Figs. 15, 16 )

Material examined. 3 female larvae ( MAIC, LMBC). India, Tamil Nadu, 2km NE Kotagiri, Longwood Shola , 1970 m, 11°26'10.97"N, 76°52'27"E, 2 July 2006, one feeding on mushy fungus, one possibly on snail .

Differential diagnosis of lower instar larvae (Species C, Voucher No. UPOL VP2312). Body shape similar to Lyropaeus sp. A , pronotum broader, 4 points on anterior margin of pronotum rounded, not acute, dark brown with symmetrical small irregular patches in thoracic terga, lateral parts of pleurae and parts of abdominal sterna, head, trochanters and femora, testaceous. Spiracular plates reach epimeron posteriorly, abdominal sternal tubercles of A2–A8 minute, lateral tergal processes short.

Measurements. BL 16.5 mm, PL 4.1 mm, PW 6.2 mm.

Remarks. The known ‘trilobite larvae’ known to date represent two genera: Platerodrilus (= Duliticola Mjöberg, 1925 ) and here redescribed Lyropaeus . Although they resemble each other in many characters, the analysis of molecular data shows that their similarity is a result of convergent evolution within Lyropaeinae. The unique spiracular sieve plate with 10 openings arranged in a circle was found only on the meso- and metathoracic segments in Lyropaeus , and they are placed in a distinct ovoid depression ( Figs. 19, 23 ), unlike the circular spiracles of the abdomen that are small, simple, not depressed below the normal surface ( Figs. 21, 24 ). This differs from the situation in Platerodrilus where the ovoid spiracular depression is present on both thoracic and abdominal segments ( Fig. 26 ), and there is a linear group of openings on the sieve plate of the thoracic spiracles. Unlike Lyropaeus , in Platerodrilus a single opening is at upper margin of the cavity and the connecting trachea runs along the inner wall of sieve plate from the margin of the cavity to the opposite margin with several openings arranged in a row ( Fig. 25 ). The origins of these large bodied larvae were ascribed to K-selection in a lineage with neotenic females ( Bocak et al., 2008).

Gravely (1915) described a pupa of Lyropaeus which developed from a smaller larvae. We are not able to discriminate at the moment the male larvae from early instar female larvae and we can only say that the large bodied larvae (Voucher UPOLVP0016–7) must be females. We have only small-bodied specimens of the species C (Voucher UPOLVP2312) and these could be both late instar males and early instar females. Surprisingly, no Lyropaeini larvae have been collected in Southeast Asia ( Wong, 1996) and large bodied larvae are now confirmed only in the south Indian Lyropaeus .

Figures

Figs. 2–16. Adult male, general appearance: 2, Lyropaeus (s. str.) aurantiacus Bourgeois; 3, L. (s. str.) ceylonicus Bocak & Bocakova; 4, L. (Lyroneces) rubrostriatus Kleine; 5, L. (Lyroneces) optabilis Kleine; 6, L. (Lyroneces) philippinensis Kleine; 7, L. (Lyroneces) ritsemae Gorham; 8, L. (Lyroneces) waterhousei Gorham; 9, L. (Lyroneces) dominator Kleine; 10, L. (s. str.) kejvali, new species; 11, L. (s. str.) nepalensis, new species. Larva, general appearance: 12, Lyropaeus (s. str.) sp. A; 13–14, Lyropaeus (s. str.) sp. B; 15, Lyropaeus (s. str.) sp. C. Scale bars = 2 mm.

Figs. 17–26. Larva of Lyropaeus (s. str.) sp. A: 17, head in lateral view; 18, ditto in dorsal view; 19–20, general appearance in ventral view; 21, abdominal sternite and pleurites of segment 1; 22, abdominal tergite 1; 23, mesothoracic spiracular plate; 24, abdominal spiracle of the segment 1 from Fig. 21. Larva of Platerodrilus sp.: 25, spiracular plate of the segment 1 from Fig. 26; 26, abdominal sternite and pleurites of segment 1. Scale bars = 2 mm (Figs. 17–23, 25–26); scale bar = 0.25 mm (Fig. 24).