Sclerotia Ballantyne 2016

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 : 144

Sclerotia Ballantyne 2016

Figs 10−12

Sclerotia Ballantyne in Ballantyne et al. 2016: 209 .

Type species. Luciola brahmina Bourgeois 1890 .

Diagnosis. A S.E. Asian genus with aquatic larvae, found in association with bodies of water. Males of most species with dull brownish yellow dorsum often with elytral apices black tipped; Scl. carinata comb. nov. with distinctive dorsal colouration, brown elytra appearing striped because of the pale interstitial lines. Sclerotia is distinguished from all other Luciolinae genera by a combination of male and larval characters as follows: elytra with lines of punctures running parallel to each other over most of the surface, entire LO in V7 with an anterior median emargination, and LO assuming either a heart or U shape depending on the depth of the emargination; three strongly sclerotised sclerites surround the aedeagal sheath, one ventral and two lateral (sclerites may be visible from below through the LO emargination, or from above through the tergites depending on the nature of preservation of the specimen); aedeagal sheath sternite sloping to left and either emarginate or prolonged along its posterior margin; aedeagus short and squat, with broad LL visible beside ML; LL slightly uneven in length. Females: macropterous and assumed capable of flight; elytral punctures as for male; LO confined to V6 with V7, 8 medianly emarginated along their posterior borders; bursa without plates. Larvae: Metapneustic, without gills in later instars; lateral bristles in first and possibly second instars may function as gills ( Fu & Ballantyne 2009); back swimmers common at or just beneath water surface with their terminal spiracles piercing the surface, and their morphology is an adaptation to this more exposed mode of life ( Fu et al. 2005); apparently without defensive glands and defensive structures may relate to strength of cuticle ( Fu et al. 2012b).

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.