Photinus 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 : 296

Photinus Laporte, 1833 ( Figure 4 Q – R, T, U, W )

Photinus is one of the largest genera of the family and is characterised by the sternum VIII covered by VII ( McDermott,1964).The genus includes both nocturnal and diurnal species,the latter sometimes lack lanterns, and are referred as ‘ dark ’ fireflies by authors (e.g. Stanger-Hall et al. 2007), but at least one diurnal species from Central America has fully developed lanterns ( Vencl et al. 2017). South American species of Photinus are likely an artificial collection of taxa with very disparate morphologies, including species with reduced mandibles and ventral abdominal spiracles (e.g. Photinus nodieri ), or clypeus fused to frons (e.g. Photinus succensus ), in contrast to arcuate mandibles,clypeus connected to frons by membrane,and dorsal abdominal spiracles (e.g. Photinus infuscatus ). Future studies will very likely reclassify some of these taxa. Nearctic species of Photinus spp. can be sorted relatively easily by observing their flash patterns (see Stanger-Hall & Lloyd 2015; Faust 2017), though aedeagi seem to be important for discriminating species groups, and sometimes between similar species ( Green 1956). Zaragoza-Caballero (1995; 1996, 2000; 2005a, 2007; 2015a) has recently made important contributions on Central and North American Photinus spp , that will guide future revisionary studies. Known Photinus females are morphologically similar to males, though some are brachypterous (e.g. P. collustrans [ Wing, 1984]), usually have smaller eyes ( Stanger-Hall et al. 2018), and their lanterns are usually restricted to a roundish or transverse spot at abdominal sternum VI ( McDermott 1964), with slight variations between taxa. Four yet undescribed Photinus species found at the Serra dos Órgãos will be described elsewhere. The other Photinus species are characterised below by their current names.

Figures

Figure 4. Diversity of Lampyrinae fireflies of the Serra dos Órgãos. A – Aspisoma sticticum, B – Aspisoma lineatum, C – Aspisoma pallens, D – Cratomorphus besckei, E – Cratomorphus cossyphinus (modified from Campos et al. 2018), F – Cratomorphus splendidus, G – Cratomorphus distinctus, H – Lucernuta savignii (modified from Silveira et al. 2019), I – Lychnacris flabellata subopaca, J – Phaenolis basalis, K – Luciuranus takiyae (modified from Silveira et al. 2018), L – Luciuranus desideratus (modified from Silveira et al. in 2018), M – Luciuranus josephi (modified from Silveira et al. 2016b), N – Luciuranus jameshooki (modified from Silveira et al. 2016b), O – Lucidota flabellicornis, P – Lucidota tricolor, Q – Photinus infuscatus, R – Photinus laticollis, S – Macrolampis varicollis, T – Photinus succensus, U – Photinus augustalisi, V – Macrolampis frater, W – Photinus nodieri, X – Ybytyramoan praeclarum (modified from Silveira and Mermudes 2014b), Y – Ybytyramoan diasi (modified from Silveira and Mermudes 2014b), Z – Ybytyramoan monteirorum (modified from Silveira and Mermudes 2014b). Scale bar: 2 mm.