Medeopteryx sublustris (Ballantyne) Ballantyne & Lambkin, 2013

Ballantyne, Lesley A. & Lambkin, Christine L., 2013, Systematics and Phylogenetics of Indo-Pacific Luciolinae Fireflies (Coleoptera: Lampyridae) and the Description of new Genera, Zootaxa 3653 (1), pp. 1-162 : 93

Medeopteryx sublustris (Ballantyne) comb. nov.

[ Fig. 184 ]

Pteroptyx sublustris Ballantyne, 1987a:160 .

Holotype. Male. NEW GUINEA: 146.40E, 7.22S, Morobe district , 4 miles north of Wau, 2800', near Kunai Creek, Lae Road, xi.12.1969, J. Lloyd ( ANIC).

Other specimens examined (listings extend Ballantyne 1987a). NEW GUINEA: 146.53E, 6.43S, Bubia , Markham valley , 50m, 20.ix.1955, JLG, male. 147.00E, 6.45S, Lae, 20m, 19.vii.1964, JS, male. 146.35E, 7.13S, Bulolo, 700m, 26.xi.1969, JS, male. Bulolo River, 680m, 8.v.1969, JS, male. Sum-Sum, 580m, 64 km north of Wau, 15.ii.1963, H. Clissold, male. 147.10E, 7.53S, Garaina, 830m, 13–15.i.1968, JS, male. 148.15E, 8.45S, Popondetta, 23.ii.1966, G Monteith, male, 4 females (Tube 240, UQIC). 147.44E, 8.52S, Kokoda, 400m, JS, 15– 20.xi.1966 male, 18.ix.1966, male. Kokoda-Pitoki, 450m, iii.24.1956, JLG, male. ( BPBM) .

Diagnosis. 6.5–7.3 mm long; pronotum orange, MS yellow, MN brown; without dimple and hump on V7; distinguished from all other Medeopteryx by the elaborate pronotal sculpturing ( Fig. 184 ) ( Ballantyne 1987a Fig. 12 ).

Remarks. The specific name characterises the flash pattern, where, to the naked eye, the second component of the double flash is not visible (sublustris = gleaming faintly, glimmering). "The 2 peaks are nearly completely separate and the 1st is about twice the intensity of the 2nd" ( Lloyd, 1973a). This species was not at first recognized by Lloyd in the field.

Olivier (1909a) described Luciola foveicollis from New Guinea with distinctive pronotal sculpturing and colour pattern similar to this species. However Luciola foveicollis (assigned herein to Australoluciola gen. nov. and redescribed) lacks the deflexed elytral apex and the pronotal sculpturing of the holotype is not to LB’s eye at all unusual, and quite unlike the distinctive pattern described for sublustris .

Figures

FIGURES 177–184. Medeopteryx spp. Males. 177–182 M. similispupillae sp. nov. paratypes. 183 M. torricelliensis. 184 M. sublustris, diagrammatic representation of pronotal sculpturing. 177, 183 dorsal; 178, 179 abdomen, ventral (178) and dorsal; 180–182 aedeagus dorsal (180), left lateral (181) and ventral (182). These figures share scale lines: 180–182

FIGURES 9–17. Australoluciola anthracina type male, Cyclops (MNHN). 9, 10 dorsal (9) and ventral; 11 V6, 7 ventral; 12 pronotum dorsal; 13 type labels; 14 aedeagal sheath ventral; 15-17 aedeagus, dorsal (15), ventral (16) and lateral. These figures share scale lines: 15–17.