Abscondita perplexa (Walker, 1858)

Ghosh, Srinjana, Sarkar, Subhankar Kumar & Chakraborty, Susanta, 2023, New distributional records of fireflies (Coleoptera, Lampyridae, Luciolinae) from two Eastern States of India with notes on their biology and an updated Indian checklist, Biodiversity Data Journal 11, pp. 98948-98948 : 98948

Abscondita perplexa (Walker, 1858)

Materials

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: Srinjana Ghosh; sex: 3 males; occurrenceID: 2724AA64-FC90-5119-9559-B486898C7827; Taxon : scientificName: Abscondita perplexa (Walker, 1858); family: Lampyridae ; Location : country: India; countryCode: Ind ; stateProvince: Odisha; locality: area near Rissia Dam adjacent to Kuldiha Wildlife Sanctuary , Balasore ; verbatimCoordinates: 21°27'46'' N, 86°35'30'' E; Event : samplingProtocol: Hand picking; eventDate: 26-April-17; Record Level : collectionCode: VUEC-0057, VUEC-0058, VUEC-0059; basisOfRecord: Preserved Specimen Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: Srinjana Ghosh; sex: 1 male; occurrenceID: B5F02DD6-DB27-5834-8012-FA3DC9337607; Taxon : scientificName: Abscondita perplexa (Walker, 1858); family: Lampyridae ; Location : country: India ; countryCode: Ind ; stateProvince: West Bengal; locality: Behala , South 24 Parganas ; verbatimCoordinates: 22°30'23" N, 88°19'18" E; Event : samplingProtocol: Hand picking; eventDate: 22-June-17; Record Level : collectionCode: VUEC-0020; basisOfRecord: Preserved Specimen Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: Srinjana Ghosh; sex: 1 male; occurrenceID: 56461559-3A80-5A56-B8E6-EC0E661F20C5; Taxon : scientificName: Abscondita perplexa (Walker, 1858); family: Lampyridae ; Location : country: India ; countryCode: Ind ; stateProvince: West Bengal; locality: Sonarpur , South 24 Parganas ; verbatimCoordinates: 22°26'57'' N, 88°23'25'' E; Event : samplingProtocol: Hand picking; eventDate: 11-March-18; Record Level : collectionCode: VUEC-0032; basisOfRecord: Preserved Specimen Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: Srinjana Ghosh; sex: 1 male; occurrenceID: 4AD 6E883-E83E-5B25-8341-248B7E4E715D; Taxon : scientificName: Abscondita perplexa (Walker, 1858); family: Lampyridae ; Location : country: India ; countryCode: Ind ; stateProvince: West Bengal; locality: near Sajnekhali Bird Sanctuary , Sundarban Biosphere Reserve , South 24 Parganas ; verbatimCoordinates: 22°7'12'' N, 88°46'49'' E; Event : samplingProtocol: Hand picking; eventDate: 16-March-18; Record Level : collectionCode: VUEC-0034; basisOfRecord: Preserved Specimen Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: Santu Paria; sex: 1 male; occurrenceID: A165769B-07C9-56C6-B114-DB8E3EDBD4DE; Taxon : scientificName: Abscondita perplexa (Walker, 1858); family: Lampyridae ; Location : country: India ; countryCode: Ind ; stateProvince: West Bengal; locality: Gurguripal Eco Forest , West Midnapore ; verbatimCoordinates: 22°25'48'' N, 87°13'12'' E; Event : samplingProtocol: Hand picking; eventDate: 11-May-18; Record Level : collectionCode: VUEC-0043; basisOfRecord: Preserved Specimen Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: Srinjana Ghosh; sex: 1 male; occurrenceID: 8D836B9B-7F0F-5BDF-A91E-939A67A1E359; Taxon : scientificName: Abscondita perplexa (Walker, 1858); family: Lampyridae ; Location : country: India ; countryCode: Ind ; stateProvince: Odisha; locality: Kuldiha Wildlife Sanctuary , Balasore ; verbatimCoordinates: 21°25'12''N, 86°43'48'' E; Event : samplingProtocol: Hand picking; eventDate: 27- May-18; Record Level : collectionCode: VUEC-0056; basisOfRecord: Preserved Specimen Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: Srinjana Ghosh; sex: 1 male; occurrenceID: 78755CF3-8382-525A-A403-EA58B964C3C1; Taxon : scientificName: Abscondita perplexa (Walker, 1858); family: Lampyridae ; Location : country: India ; countryCode: Ind ; stateProvince: West Bengal; locality: Shimla ,Serampore, Hooghly ; verbatimCoordinates: 22°44'27'' N, 88°19'24'' E; Event : samplingProtocol: Hand picking; eventDate: 1-July-18; Record Level : collectionCode: VUEC-0064; basisOfRecord: Preserved Specimen Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: Srinjana Ghosh; sex: 1 male; occurrenceID: 7C5269D5-3EBA-529F-9839-2466E2AE452E; Taxon : scientificName: Abscondita perplexa (Walker, 1858); family: Lampyridae ; Location : country: India ; countryCode: Ind ; stateProvince: West Bengal; locality: Kawakhali village , Darjeeling ; verbatimCoordinates: 26°41'41'' N, 88°23'28'' E; Event : samplingProtocol: Hand picking; eventDate: 15-July-18; Record Level : collectionCode: VUEC-0065; basisOfRecord: Preserved Specimen Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: Srinjana Ghosh; sex: 1 male; occurrenceID: E42CE528-C215-57D3-B14C-E5B3F76A5320; Taxon : scientificName: Abscondita perplexa (Walker, 1858); family: Lampyridae ; Location : country: India ; countryCode: Ind ; stateProvince: West Bengal; locality: Naihati , North 24 Parganas ; verbatimCoordinates: 22°52'48'' N, 88°25'48'' E; Event : samplingProtocol: Hand picking; eventDate: 27-September-18; Record Level : collectionCode: VUEC-0070; basisOfRecord: Preserved Specimen Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: Srinjana Ghosh; sex: 2 males; occurrenceID: 905C7191-8EF5-5E6F-A4FE-4938E42B9C6F; Taxon : scientificName: Abscondita perplexa (Walker, 1858); family: Lampyridae ; Location : country: India ; countryCode: Ind ; stateProvince: West Bengal; locality: Pailan , South 24 Parganas ; verbatimCoordinates: 22°25'12'' N, 88°17'59'' E; Event : samplingProtocol: Hand picking; eventDate: 22-February-19; Record Level : collectionCode: VUEC-0076, VUEC-0077; basisOfRecord: Preserved Specimen Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: Srinjana Ghosh; sex: 1 male, 3 females; occurrenceID: 55FF1428-40B5-5FDD-B7BB-01E815DCCA97; Taxon : scientificName: Abscondita perplexa (Walker, 1858); family: Lampyridae ; Location : country: India ; countryCode: Ind ; stateProvince: Odisha; locality: Judia , Keonjhar ; verbatimCoordinates: 21°37'48'' N, 86°34'12'' E; Event : samplingProtocol: Net sweeping; eventDate: 24- March-19; Record Level : collectionCode: VUEC-0060, VUEC-0061, VUEC-0062, VUEC-0063; basisOfRecord: Preserved Specimen

Diagnosis

Length 7-10 mm; Width 2.5-3.5 mm; Abs. perplexa is one of the three species of Abscondita ( Abs. chinensis , Abs. perplexa and Abs. terminalis ) present in India which is characterised by a pale dorsum with dark brown to black elytral apices (Fig. 4). PN, MN, MS and semi-transparent elytra pale brown, with the elytral apices black and occupying approximately 1/6 of its total length, head between eyes, labrum, antennae, palpi, apical part of tibiae and all tarsi dark brown, ventrites yellowish-orange, V6 and V7 occupying white LO. The species can be distinguished from other Abscondita species known from India by the following set of male characters: terminal abdominal tergites pale yellow (in Abs. chinensis and Abs. terminalis , abdominal tergites are dark brown), V5 bearing a medially notched and laterally broad dark patch along the posterior margin (in Abs. chinensis , the V5 is entirely dark). Male genitalia (Fig. 5): Aedeagus twice as long as wide (L:W = 0.5:0.25); ML longer than LL, gradually narrowing towards the apex, with the tip of ML projecting beyond the tips of LL (in Abs. chinensis and Abs. terminalis , both LL are longer than ML and the tip of ML is not projecting beyond the tips of LL), ML broader at base than LL; BP sclerotised, concave at its inner margin; LL subparallel-sided and fused with ML along most of the dorsal length, except in the separated apical 1/5 part; aedeagal sheath sternite terminated into two apically rounded lobes (in Abs. chinensis , the sheath sternite is terminated into two apically acute divergent lobes).

Biology

Adults of Abs. perplexa generally prefer open grassland area, but are also found on vegetation patches, near aquatic sites. Their oviposition sites include leaf litter or dry leaf beds. Larvae are nocturnal, glow weakly and were observed on plant debris and leaf litter in terrestrial habitats ( Ballantyne et al. 2013).

Notes

This is a tentative identification, based solely on morphology.