Medeopteryx fraseri Ho 2019, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Ho, - Z.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2019
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Lampyridae
Medeopteryx
Medeopteryx fraseri

description: Medeopteryx fraseri Nada sp. nov.
Figs 315–323
Types. Holotype male. MALAYSIA. # = killed fixed and preserved in 70% ethanol. Pahang: Fraser’s Hill Bishop Trail, 29.iv.2015, B. Nada (FH 29 Transect) (FRIM). Paratypes. Male same locality as holotype (FH 29 Transect). Fraser’s Hill: Bishop Trail, 1250 m a.s.l., 14.iv.2016, Z.A. Saiful-Azhari, 4 ♂ (B 1 II 14.4); 13.iv.2016, S. Muhammad-Jafni, ♂ (B 4 I); 13.iv.2016, B. Nada, ♂ (B3 0- 40 I); 28.iv.2015, B. Nada, 2 ♂ (Nada recorded these as a mating pair) (FH 28 Mating?); 28.iv.2015, B. Nada, 3 ♂ (FH 28 Transect), 29.iv.2015, B. Nada, 2 ♂ (FH 29 transect II) (FRIM).
Diagnosis. Only the second Medeopteryx with pale dorsum and black tipped elytra (the other is Med. tarsalis), and the first record of the genus from Malaysia. One of six Medeopteryx now known without deflexed elytral apices in the male (the others are Med. hongkongensis, Med. pupilla, Med. semimarginata comb. nov., Med. similispupillae and Med. timida comb. nov.).
Description of male. 7.5−8.8 mm long. Colour (Figs 315–318): pronotum yellowish; elytra pale yellow semi- transparent with black apices (dark hind wings and parts of thorax visible beneath elytra confuse interpretation of colour); head antennae and palpi very dark brown almost black; venter of thorax dull orange yellow with brown markings to either side of median line in metathorax in 6/13; legs 1, 2 yellow with underside of femora yellowish brown and upper side dark brown, and dark brown tibiae and tarsi; legs 3 with orange yellow femora and dark brown tibiae and tarsi; abdominal ventrites 2–5 mottled brown, 6 and 7 white (Fig. 317); posterior margin of LO in V7 not reaching to posterior margin and outline following the trisinuate margin narrowly; abdominal tergites brown (Fig. 318) with dorsally reflexed ventrite margins of 2–5 brown and of 6, 7 white; T8 semitransparent yellowish brown with darker brown median markings. Pronotum with lateral margins subparallel-sided (A=B=C); anterolateral corners obtusely rounded, posterolateral corners angulate. Head: GHW/SIW 5.0; ASD subequal to or slightly less than ASW. Antennae filiform, scape not clavate, FS1 longer than remainder, FS 4−9 subequal in length and width and slightly shorter than FS2, 3. Abdomen (Fig. 317): V2 appears in two lateral areas only; V3 with posterior margin emarginated and median length shorter than lateral length; V4 with median length much longer than lateral length and most of median anterior margin projecting into the emargination of the segment in front; posterior margin of V4 not emarginated; V5 with median length a little longer than lateral length and half of median anterior margin slightly produced; posterior margin of V7 trisinuated with narrow rounded PLP not projecting posteriorly as far as the short apically truncated MPP which is slightly wider than the PLP; MPP may appear slightly broadly and very shallowly emarginated depending on orientation; no depressed area (‘dimple’) or elevation (‘hump’) present anterior to MPP. T8: paired anterior prolongations as long as entire posterior portion of T8; posterior margin slightly trisinuated and median posterior margin narrowly and shallowly emarginated; ventral surface with lateral ridges and anterior broad short and apically rounded flanges (arrowed in Fig. 323). Aedeagal sheath: (Figs 321, 322). Aedeagus (Figs 319, 320): b/a 0.9; elongate slender tapering to its apex; LL very narrow at their apices and separated for about half their length.
Etymology. The possessive epithet of the type locality (Fraser’s Hill) is used in the genitive case for a specific name.
Remarks. Pteroptyx species have been characterised from pinned specimens with anterior margins of V4 and V5 prolonged and projecting into the emarginated posterior margin of the segment in front. Dehydration would enhance the perceived effect. This is the first time such emarginations have been reported in Medeopteryx, and the prolongation of the anterior margin of V5 without any apparent emargination of the segment in front is unusual.
description: Published as part of 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, pp. 1-174 in Zootaxa 4687 (1) on pages 109-110, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4687.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/3508098