Medeopteryx flagrans Ballantyne &amp; Lambkin 2013, comb. nov.
Creators: name: Ballantyne, Lesley A.
name: Lambkin, Christine L.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2013
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Lampyridae
Medeopteryx
Medeopteryx flagrans

description: <i>Medeopteryx flagrans</i> (Ballantyne) comb. nov. [Figs 146, 158] <i>Pteroptyx flagrans</i> Ballantyne, 1987a:151. <b>Holotype.</b> Male. <b>NEW GUINEA</b>: 144.58E, 5.59S, Chimbu District, Catherine Mission (ANIC). <b>Other specimens examined.</b> Specimens are in BPBM unless otherwise indicated, and listings extend Ballantyne (1987a). <b>NEW GUINEA</b>: 145.53E, 5.54S, Above Kerowagi, 2300m, vii.6.1955, JLG, male. 144.37E. 5.55S, Minj, W Highlands, ix.8–13.1959, sweeping, T. Maa, 2 males, 2 females. 145.04E, 6.37S, Karimui, 1080m, 13.vii.1963, male. 146.40E, 7.22S, Wau, Morobe District, Mt Missim, 1100m, 17.i.1963, H. Clissold, male; 880– 1050m, 8–9.ii.1963, male; 1450m, 20.iii.1974, on Urticaceae, JLG male. Wau, Bulolo River, 850–900m, 24.viii.1965, male; 1100–1200m, 25.ix.1968, male NK. Morobe Dist., Aseki, 1100m, 13.iv.1974, A. Hart, male. Feramin, 150– 120m, 11–22.v.1959, WB, male. Chimbu District, Kundiu, Catherine Mission. 26–29.XI.1969, 8 mating pairs; one MP #6, 13.XI.1969; 1 MP no spect. 8.XI.1969 (ANIC). <b>INDONESIA</b>, West Irian (as New Guinea, Netherlands): 140.10E, 2.48S, Genjam, 40 km W of Hollandia, 100–200m, 1–10.iii. 1963, T. Maa, male. Guega, W. of Swart Valley, 1200m, 15.xi.1958, JLG, 2 males. Swart Valley, W side, 1400–2000m, xi.13.1958, male, JLG. Swart Valley, Karubaka, 1450m, xi.12.1958, male; 1300m, xi.7.1958, 2 males, 3 females, JLG. <b>Diagnosis.</b> 6.1–7.1mm long; pronotum, MP yellow, MS dusky yellow, darker than pronotum; frons and labrum sometimes orange; elytral apices rounded (Fig. 146); LOs entire in V7; dimple and hump absent; distinguished from <i>M. torricelliensis</i> (Fig. 183) by its smaller size and the outline of the terminal abdomen; from <i>M. hanedai</i> by the uniformly orange pronotum, and <i>M. sublustris</i> by the smooth surface of the pronotum (see Fig. 184) (Ballantyne 1987a Fig. 12; Ballantyne &amp; McLean 1970 Figs 14, 15). <b>Female</b> (Fig. 158) (Kundiu specimens). 5.9–7.2 mm long. Colour: as for male except for dusky brown MS, pale LO in V6, and slightly paler brown V7, 8 which may be irregularly marked laterally in darker brown. Abdomen: posterior margin of V6 not medially emarginate, posterolateral corners rounded; posterior margin of V7 broadly, shallowly and evenly emarginated, posterolateral corners rounded; V8 not indented in median line. Bursa with two sets of wide plates. <b>Remarks.</b> Ballantyne (1987a:152) described the flashing patterns of this species which earned it the common name of "flickerer" used by Lloyd, Buck, Hopkins and others. Lloyd (1973a) described "3 common and distinctive luminescent patterns" and the female behaviour pattern, where "females are attracted to and land near flashing males. In other species (non <i>Pteroptyx</i>) studied in New Guinea and elsewhere, it is the males that are attracted to stationary luminescing females".
description: Published as part of <i>Ballantyne, Lesley A. &amp; Lambkin, Christine L., 2013, Systematics and Phylogenetics of Indo-Pacific Luciolinae Fireflies (Coleoptera: Lampyridae) and the Description of new Genera, pp. 1-162 in Zootaxa 3653 (1)</i> on page 89, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3653.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/5265340
description: {"references": ["Ballantyne, L. A. (1987 a) Further Revisional Studies on the firefly genus Pteroptyx Olivier (Coleoptera: Lampyridae: Luciolinae). Transactions of the American Entomological Society, 113, 117 - 170.", "Ballantyne, L. A. &amp; McLean, M. R. (1970) Revisional studies on the firefly genus Pteroptyx Olivier (Coleoptera: Lampyridae: Luciolinae: Luciolini). Transactions of the American Entomological Society, 96, 223 - 305.", "Lloyd, J. E. (1973 a) Fireflies of Melanesia: Bioluminescence, Mating Behavior, and Synchronous flashing. Environmental Entomology, 2 (no. 6), 991 - 1008."]}