Asymmetricata Ballantyne 2009

Ho, - Z., 2019, The Luciolinae of S. E. Asia and the Australopacific region: a revisionary checklist (Coleoptera: Lampyridae) including description of three new genera and 13 new species, Zootaxa 4687 (1), pp. 1-174 : 47

Asymmetricata Ballantyne 2009

Figs 13 , 139−179

Asymmetricata Ballantyne in Ballantyne & Lambkin 2009: 30 (figs 5–8, 108–114). Yiu, 2012: 88; 2017: 88. Fu 2014: 54.

Type species: Luciola circumdata ( Motschulsky 1854) designated by Ballantyne & Lambkin 2009: 30.

Diagnosis. A genus with relatively large species (usually 10 mm or longer) having a broad pronotum with laterally divergent margins, and convex sided elytra which are often brightly coloured, many with dark brown to black elytra having pale margins. Known larvae are terrestrial. Males distinguished from all other Luciolinae by the asymmetrical T8 which is emarginate on its left side ( Ballantyne & Lambkin 2009 fig. 7); all but one species have bipartite LO in V7. Females are macropterous and those examined have no bursa plates; in two species the median oviduct plate is subtriangular in outline; larvae have laterally explanate tergal margins ( Fu et al. 2012a: 22).

Remarks. Asymmetricata was erected for two species transferred from Luciola ( As. circumdata Motsch. 1854 from Thailand and Cambodia, and As. ovalis [ Hope 1831] from India) and characterised primarily by the asymmetrical male abdominal T8 ( Ballantyne & Lambkin 2009: 30). The species were keyed and distinguished by the nature of the light organs in V7 (either bipartite or entire). Two further species with a similar configuration of T8 and bipartite LOs in V7 viz. As. humeralis ( Walker 1858) comb. nov. and As. bicoloripes ( Pic 1927) comb. nov. are transferred from Luciola . Three species ( Luciola doriae Olivier 1885 , L. impressa Olivier 1910b and L. notatipennis Olivier 1909a ) are synonymised with As. humeralis comb. nov. However, the variability of the dorsal colour patterns indicated below could indicate further variability As. humeralis comb. nov. (interpretations were made from dead museum specimens where it may be difficult to interpret the original colour pattern). Assessing this variability requires examination of aedeagal and aedeagal sheath patterns.

Ballantyne & Lambkin (2009) suggested the possibility of a gradation from entire to bipartite LO in V7 because of the anterior emargination of the LO in V 7 in As. circumdata . On the basis of specimens examined here it appears that the LO in V7 exists in two distinct forms either bipartite or entire (see below) but that there is no evidence of a gradation between the two different forms.

Figures

FIGURES 9−16. Key to genera characters 2. 9. Missimia flavida type male; 10 Luciola brahmina type male (MNHN); 11, 12 Luciola seriata type male (CMG); 13 Asymmetricata circumdata male; 14, 15 Kuantana menayah gen. et sp. nov.; 16 Curtos costipenis male. 9 anterior head (arrow indicates clypeus); 10, 11, 16 dorsal (arrows in 16 indicate humeral carina); 12 lateral tergite 8 aedeagal sheath and sclerites); 13 dorsal tergites 7 and 8; 14, 15, dorsal (14) and ventral tergite 8. Figure legends: AS aedeagal sheath; T7, 8 tergites 7, 8.

FIGURES 139–147. Asymmetricata spp. 139, 140 Luciola bicoloripes type male; 141–146 As. circumdata 141, 145–147 Tenasserim (Prague); 142, 143 Ranong (ANIC); 144 Thailand Mae Hong son (Prague); 139, 141, 143 ventral habitus; 140 type labels; 142, 144 dorsal habitus; 145–147 detail ventrites 6, 7.

FIGURES 148–153. Asymmetricata circumdata female (Thailand, Chiang Mai, QSBG). 148 abdomen ventral; 149, 150 ovipositor, to left, and internal reproductive system (149 anterior end to left of page); 151 ovipositor ventral; 152, 153 median oviduct plate from above (152) and right (153). Figure legend: SDG spermatophore digesting gland. Scale lines are 1 mm except for 153 which is 0.5 mm.

FIGURES 154–164. Asymmetricata spp. 154, 155, 158–164 Colophotia humeralis syntype male (NHML); 156, 157 male Nilgiri Hills labelled ‘doriae notatipennis’ (NHML). 154, 156, 157 dorsal habitus; 155 ventral habitus; 158, 159 abdomen only: 158 ventral; 159 dorsal; 160 type label; 161, 162 aedeagal sheath: 161 ventral; 162 dorsal; 164, 164 aedeagus: 163 dorsal; 164 left lateral. Scale lines are 1 mm.

FIGURES 165−174. Luciola impressa holotype male (165−167, 171−174), cotype female (168−170). 165, 167, 168, 170 dorsal habitus (167 angled to show pronotal colour); 166, 169 ventral habitus; 171, 174 aedeagus: 171 ventral; 174 dorsal; 172 aedeagal sheath ventral; 173 type label.

FIGURES 175−179. Asymmetricata ovalis female (Chiang Mai QSBG). 175 abdominal segments 7, 8, ventral; 176, 178, 179 reproductive system: 176 entire system SDG to right of picture, ovipositor to left; 177 female genitalia styli to foot of page 178 ventral outline of median oviduct plate with valvifers of ovipositor to right; 179 left lateral with median oviduct plate from side and ovipositor at bottom left.. Scale lines are 1 mm.