Luciola nicollieri Bugnion, 1922

Jusoh, Wan F. A. & Ballantyne, Lesley, 2024, A catalogue and redescription of type specimens of fireflies (Coleoptera, Lampyridae, Luciolinae) deposited in Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, Contributions to Entomology 74 (1), pp. 63-80 : 63-80

Luciola nicollieri Bugnion, 1922

Fig. 4 A – Q

Luciola nicollieri Bugnion, 1922: 1–14. Ballantyne et al. 2019: 103. De Silva et al. 2023: 331.

Luciola nicolleri . McDermott 1966: 110 (misspelling).

Lectotype and paralectotype.

2 ♂ (herein designated).

Type locality.

“ Ceylan, Talgaswella, district d’Elpitiya ”.

Material examined

(2 ♂ specimens). Lectotype (herein designated): SRI LANKA ● ♂: (1) “ E. BUGNION / Hiver 1906–7 / Ceylan / Talgaswella ”; (2) “ don. E. BUGNION’ 22 ”; (3) “ COTYPE: Luciola / Nicollieri / Bugnion / ♂ ”; (4) “ Luciola. / nicollieri / Bugnion, 1922 / ZMAN type COLE. 0929.1 ”; (5) “ RMNH. INS / 968348 ” (Fig. 4 A ) ; Paralectotype: SRI LANKA ● ♂ (missing head and prothorax): (1) “ E. BUGNION / Hiver 1906–7 / Ceylan / Talgaswella ”; (2) “ don. E. BUGNION’ 22 ”; (3) “ COTYPE: / Luciola / Nicollieri / Bugnion / ♂ ”; (4) “ Luciola / nicollieri / Bugnion, 1922 / ZMAN type / COLE. 0929.2 ”; (5) “ RMNH. INS / 968347 ” (Fig. 4 B )

Diagnosis.

Male with orange pronotum, black elytra with narrow pale orange lateral and sutural margins, elytral apex appearing more widely pale due in part to an accumulation of fat body. Venter black except for yellowish creamy LO in V 6, 7. The only Luciola s. str. so far recorded with pale coloured pronotum without darker markings, and dark brown to black elytra with all margins pale except at the base.

Redescription of lectotype male.

Body length (Fig. 4 D ). 6.5 mm long (intact specimen only).

Colour (Fig. 4 C – G ). Pronotum orange with faint thin black line visible from above along lateral margin and around anterolateral corners (not visible in figures); MS, MN very light brown; elytra very dark brown with epipleural ridge (from above) appearing narrowly paler brown; apical paler fat body extending narrowly anteriorly for 0.9 elytral length along lateral margin, scooped in median area, extending anteriorly 1 / 10 elytral length along suture; remainder of suture indistinctly slightly paler than rest of elytron; head between black eyes black; antennae and palpi dark brown; venter of thorax and basal abdominal ventrites black; legs 1, 2 with coxae, trochanters light brown, remainder very dark brown; legs 3 entirely very dark brown except for small light brown area where inner margins of coxae are contiguous; LO in V 6, 7 orange with posterior margin of both yellowish; T 6–8 yellow semi – transparent with underlying fat bodies visible; T 3–5 dark brown; laterally reflexed margins of V 3–5 dark brown, of 6, 7 yellow.

Pronotum (Fig. 4 E ). Width slightly exceeds humeral width.

Elytra (Fig. 4 D ). Interstitial lines not obvious.

Head (Fig. 4 F ). Antennal sockets contiguous; head wider than width of prothoracic cavity; mouthparts well developed, and specimen could feed as adult. Antennae longer than, but less than twice GHW, all flagellar segments elongate slender.

Abdomen (Fig. 4 C, G – J ). LO completely occupies V 6, and possibly also V 7 (Fig. 4 C ); posterior margin of V 7 broadly rounded; posterior margin of T 7 entire (Fig. 4 G, H ), not emarginated, with corners rounded; posterior margin of T 8 entire, not emarginated, lateral margins slightly divergent posteriorly, anterolateral prolongations narrow, apically acute and 0.4 as long as entire tergite; ventral surface smooth without ridges or flanges (Fig. 4 I, J ).

Aedeagal sheath (Fig. 4 K – N ). Slightly asymmetrical as right margin of sternite is narrowly emarginated (Fig. 4 L ); anterior margin sternite slightly produced on right side (Fig. 4 L, M, N ); posterior margin entire, rounded, hairy, extending only a little beyond the rounded hairy tergite apex (Fig. 4 N ); sheath tergite in two sections (Fig. 4 K, L, N ); anterior margin of tergite irregularly produced (Fig. 4 L, M, N ).

Aedeagus (Fig. 4 O – Q ). L / W 2.5; BP narrow extending along sides of LL for slightly less than half aedeagal length, extent somewhat confused by underlying tissue (Fig. 4 O, P, Q ); anterior dorsal margin of LL neither emarginated nor produced (Fig. 4 O ); LL contiguous along basal 1 / 3 of their dorsal length, then with a slight separation before apices approach in median line (Fig. 4 O ); inner preapical area of right LL hooked (unclear if this is also on the other lobe), apices LL expanded, membranous, wrap around on ventral surface beside ML apex, not covering apex (Fig. 4 P ); elongate slender, apically acute leaf like lobes present along outer ventral margins, extending behind ML (Fig. 4 P upper arrows); when viewed from beneath ML subparallel-sided along basal 4 / 5 then abruptly narrowed (Fig. 4 P ); sides of ML just before narrowed area narrowly expanded laterally on ventral surface, incline slightly below; (these narrowed lateral expansions partly contribute to the narrowed appearance) (Fig. 4 P, Q ; lower single arrow on left indicates the lateral expansion on the right side only); ML only slightly expanded at its rounded tip; ML when viewed from the side same width along most of length until the area above the lateral expansions of its ventral surface, when it expands to its apex (Fig. 4 Q ). Attachment of ML to LL (Fig. 4 O, Q ): lateral margins of anterior dorsal ML thickened, darkened, extend obliquely dorsally (Fig. 4 O upper left arrow) to connect (upper arrow Fig. 4 Q shows area of attachment between the two sets of lobes), with similar thickened, darkened paired lobes arising from inner basal margin of LL (Fig. 4 O lower left arrow), immediately behind anterior margin of LL (right arrow Fig. 4 O ) (Fig. 4 O, Q ); mid anterior margin of LL heavily sclerotised and darkened, inclining dorsally so in lateral view the dorsal anterior LL margin appears concave (Fig. 4 Q lower left arrow); connection between the two areas probably muscle as attachment appears to permit some independent movement of the ML.

Notes.

Bugnion (1922) described two “ côtes ”, but interstitial lines were not clearly visible on this specimen. He considered nicollieri most closely resembled Luciola horni and attempted to distinguish the two species (see Bugnion 1922: 2). Yiu (2017) identified as near nicollieri, a population of males, brachelytral females, and larvae with laterally explanate tergal margins from Hong Kong. The specimens Yiu illustrated are inconsistent with what we describe here, as the ML of the aedeagus narrows to its apex. Ballantyne et al. (2019) listed L. nicollieri under Luciola s. lato and type not located, as they felt the distinctive colour pattern would allow subsequent association of specimens. De Silva et al. (2023) described a specimen from Sri Lanka basing their identification on Ballantyne’s comparison with these dissections. It is difficult to reconcile their figure 3 d-f with what we illustrate here. They also associated a brachelytral and possibly flightless female with the male.

Figures

Figure 4. Luciola nicollieri Bugnion, 1922 lectotype male (A, C, E, F, H – Q) and paralectotype male (B, D, G. Without head and prothorax). A, B. Specimen labels; C. Ventral mesothorax – end of abdomen; D. Dorsal habitus; E. Dorsal head prothorax and anterior area of mesothorax; F. Anterior head; G. Ventral, V 5–7 and elytral apices; H. V 7 ventral; I, J. Tergite 8 – T 8 dorsal view (I) and ventral view (J); K – N. Aedeagal sheath: K. Dorsal with aedeagus ventral surface to right; L. Ventral view; M. Dorsal view; N. Left lateral; O – Q. Aedeagus: O. Dorsal view (arrow top left indicates thickened left margin of ML, lower arrow thickened lobe from inner margin of LL, lower arrow right side indicates area of attachment to inner surface of base of LL); P. Ventral view (upper oblique arrows left and right indicate leafy lobes from inner margins of LL, lower left arrow lateral expansion of ML margins); Q. Left lateral (upper arrow indicates junction between lobes from ML to left and lobes from LL to right; lower right arrow indicates area of attachment to inner base of LL). All images are to scale, except specimen labels.