Further studies on south eastern Asian Luciolinae: 1. Sclerotia Ballantyne, <br />a new genus of fireflies with back swimming larvae 2. Triangulara Pimpasalee, a new genus from Thailand (Coleoptera: Lampyridae)

Abstract

Sclerotia Ballantyne gen. nov. is established for seven species. Sclerotia aquatilis (Thancharoen, 2007), Scl. brahmina (Bourgeois, 1890), Scl. carinata (Gorham, 1880), Scl. flavida (Hope, 1845), Scl. seriata (Olivier, 1891), and Scl. substriata (Gorham, 1880) are transferred from Luciola Laporte. Sclerotia fui sp. nov. from China is described as new. Luciola cingulata Olivier, 1885 is synonymised with Luciola substriata Gorham. Luciola formosana Pic, 1916 is removed from synonymy with Luciola substriata and newly synonymised with Luciola flavida (Hope). Males are characterised by linear elytral punctation, a set of three sclerites surrounding the aedeagal sheath and a light organ in ventrite 7 with emarginated anterior margin. Associated females lack bursa plates. Larvae associated for three species are back swimmers, having heavily sclerotised exoskeleton and a metapneustic respiratory system. Males and associated females are keyed. Analysis of molecular evidence for Chinese populations of three species indicates monophyly of Sclerotia Ballantyne gen. nov. and distinct separation from other genera.Triangulara Pimpasalee gen. nov. is described from Tri. frontoflava Pimpasalee gen. et sp. nov. from Thailand. It is superficially similar to Sclerotia gen. nov. but larger, and specimens in collections appear to have been confused with the similarly coloured Scl. substriata (Gorham) comb. nov. Males differ in having an elongate triangular light organ in ventrite 7 and are without sclerites around the aedeagal sheath. Larvae are not reliably associated but may be aquatic.

The complete mitochondrial genome of the firefly, Pteroptyx maipo (Coleoptera: Lampyridae)

“…The result shows P. maipo is most closely related to Luciola Substriata (recently identified as Sclerotia flavida by Ballantyne et al 2016), which belongs to an entirely different genus in the Lampyridae.…”

The complete mitochondrial genome of the firefly, Abscondita anceyi (Olivier) (Coleoptera: Lampyridae)

“…Similar to other Metazoa, our sequence contains 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, two ribosomal RNA genes and a noncoding AT-rich region, which represents a typical insect mitochondrial genome (Wolstenholme 1992). The open frames of the 13 protein-coding genes were inferred from three other fireflies: Aquatica leii, Luciola substriata (recently identified as Sclerotia flavida by Ballantyne et al 2016), and Pyrocoelia rufa (Lee et al 2004;Jiao et al 2015;Mu et al 2016). All 13 PCGs initiated with ATN (ATT, ATA, and ATG) codon.…”

“…The result shows Abs. anceyi is most closely related to L. substriata (recently identified as Sclerotia flavida by Ballantyne et al 2016), which belongs to an entirely different genus in the Lampyridae.…”

Flash communication pattern analysis of fireflies based on computer vision

“…We captured male Sclerotia aquatilis from their habitat in the suburban area of Phitsanulok Province, Thailand. The S. aquatilis was previously classified as and referred to as Luciola aquatilis [29]. This study used S. aquatilis instead, which are the same species, previously referred to as Luciola aquatilis [30].…”