Sclerotia substriata Gorham 1880, comb. nov.
Creators: name: Ballantyne, Lesley A.
name: Lambkin, Christine L.
name: Luan, Xin
name: Boontop, Yuvarin
name: Nak-Eiam, Sorasak
name: Pimpasalee, Suttisan
name: Silalom, Sommyot
name: Thancharoen, Anchana
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Lampyridae
Sclerotia
Sclerotia substriata

description: Sclerotia substriata (Gorham, 1880) comb. nov.
(Figs 19, 20, 119−138)
Luciola substriata Gorham, 1880: 100; 1895: 305.
Luciola cingulata Olivier, 1885: 359, Plate v; 1900: 235; 1902: 76; 1907a: 51. Gorham 1903: 323. New Synonymy. Nec Luciola cingulata Olivier var. capite rufo Bourgeois, 1890: 169.
Nec Luciola cingulata Olivier. Ballantyne, 1987b: 180, Fig. 1 (misidentification). Nec Luciola formosana Pic 1916 sensu Jeng et al. (2003).
Type. Holotype male. Luciola cingulata Olivier. Male. SRI LANKA (as Ceylon) labelled as follows (Fig. 122): 1. Red printed label TYPUS; 2. Male symbol; 3 handwritten in ink Galle-Ceylan mag 1869 Viag. Doria; 4. Printed in black ink cingulata E. Oliv.; 5. Pink label SYNTYPUS printed, handwritten in ink Luciola cingulata E. Olivier 1885. (Figs 119, 122) (MCSN).
Luciola substriata Gorham. Not located in NHML or MNHN in 2013 by Ballantyne. Gorham collection in MNHN typically has an arrangement with several specimens standing under one large identification label. Occasionally individual specimens have identification labels but neither Jeng (pers. com.) nor Ballantyne found anything that could be identified as a type of L. substriata. Gorham (1895) recorded specimens from Rangoon and Tharawaddy as substriata (NHML), and these are the only specimens we have seen that we believe approach the original description.
Other specimens examined. MYANMAR (as Burma). Tharawaddy, 2 males (NHML). Rangoon 1902, male (NHML). The MNHN collection was examined by LB in 2013 but specimens of substriata have been borrowed by another researcher and cannot be located.
Diagnosis. One of several Sclerotia spp. with light brown dorsum and dark tipped elytral apices; distinguished by the deep to very deep anterior median emargination of the LO in V7, the dark brown V5 or dark V4, 5, the rounded prolongation of the median anterior margin of aedeagal sheath tergite, the absence of a transverse oblique ridge in posterior half of sheath sternite, and the elongate pointed projection of the right side of the posterior margin of the sheath sternite. Females and larvae unknown. In the absence of a type, we have identified specimens from Myanmar (in NHML) as Luciola substriata Gorham (see discussion below).
Male redescription. 9.2−10.1 mm long. Colour (Figs 119, 131−138):dorsal colour pale brownish with pronotum, MS and MN appearing deep orange except in one Tharawaddy male (NHML) where the dorsal surface is yellowish with paler pronotum due to underlying whitish fat body (Fig. 131); apices of elytra with very small black area which may not be clearly visible from above; head antennae and palpi dark brown, ventral surface of thorax brownish (yellow in one Tharawaddy male Fig. 131); legs brownish with dark brown tibiae and tarsi (tarsi lighter brown in cingulata type); basal abdomen light brownish, V4, 5 dark brown in Myanmar specimens (Figs 132, 134), V4 darker brown in median area only in cingulata type; basal abdominal tergites dark brown, T7, 8 light brown.
Pronotum: W/L 1.7−2.0; L/BL 0.16−0.18; W/GHW 1.3−1.5. Elytron: 0.8 as long as total body length. Head: SIW/GHW 0.13; apical labial palpomeres with>3 teeth. Antennae incomplete. Abdomen: LO in V7 with wide and deep emargination (Figs 120, 132, 134, 138).
Aedeagal sheath sclerites (Figs 128−130: ventral sclerite approximately circular in outline with ventral surface irregularly thickened on one side and a curved band running across the middle; right sclerite (Fig. 130) with an apically rounded hollow anterior ventral projection, to the side of that a curved anteriorly pointed projection, and behind and beneath both a broad piece with irregular lateral margins which could represent two very short lateral projections fused; left sclerite (Fig. 129) with three lateral pointed projections (anterior, slender median and posterior with inner arm curved and apically pointed).
Aedeagal sheath (Figs 121, 126, 127): without oblique median ridge in posterior area of sternite; right posterolateral margin of sternite strongly and broadly produced, and apically acute, with very shallow emargination separating it from a much shorter rounded projection (depending on orientation the emargination and the shorter projection may not be obvious) (Figs 126, 127); median anterior margin of sheath tergite produced and apically rounded (Fig. 126).
Aedeagus (Figs 123−125): L/ W 2.3. LL of unequal length (left shorter than right) with apex of right LL slightly obliquely truncated (longer margin to the outside); inner apical margins of LL hooked. Length basal piece/ total length aedeagus 0.5.
Remarks. It has not been possible to locate an accurately labelled type of Luciola substriata. Gorham (1880) described L. substriata from Mumbai (as Bombay), with ‘punctures arranged in rows’ and all yellow tibiae. All subsequent designations have dark tibiae. Subsequently Gorham (1895) recorded the species from Myanmar (as Burma) where he indicated he thought L. cingulata Olivier was a probably a synonym of L. substriata. Jeng et al. (2003) examined what they thought may have been a type in the Gorham collection in the Paris Museum (MNHN), but the specimen lacked any label indicating its origin or type status. Gorham’s material is often arranged under a single species label as this was. The identified material they examined in Paris was from Rangoon and they believe this to have been the subject of Gorham’s 1895 paper. The specimens have been borrowed and it has not been possible to relocate them.
Jeng et al. (2003) did however synonymise Luciola formosana Pic with L. substriata Gorham as a result of their searches through the collection. Their investigations did not include any dissections and following genitalic examination we herein overturn their conclusions and formosana is removed from synonymy with substriata and placed under flavida (Hope).
We are unable to borrow specimens from India and especially Mumbai (Bombay), the type locality, as Indian governmental regulations require payment of a substantial fee for loan of individual specimens. Additionally there are no specimens from Mumbai (as Bombay) in either the MNHN or NHML collections. We have therefore relied on specimens Gorham (1896, 1903) described from Myanmar (Tharawaddy and Rangoon) in the NHML as being specimens most closely approaching substriata s. str. We hope that at some time in the future these regulations in India are relaxed and the opportunity will exist for confirmation or reevaluation of our interpretations.
A single male in NHML from Tharawaddy labelled as ‘ var capite rufo’ and consistent with a new species we describe here as Triangulara frontoflava sp. nov.
Discussion. Sclerotia gen. nov. is on the one hand one of the most easily recognised genera in the Luciolinae from male and larval characters, and at the same time one of the more difficult when correct species identification is addressed. Dissection of the aedeagal sheath and the surrounding sclerites, although difficult, is necessary for correct species identification.
It is a genus tied to bodies of water by the aquatic larvae which themselves have distinctive and interesting features, being metapneustic and swimming upside down just below the water surface.
description: Published as part of Ballantyne, Lesley A., Lambkin, Christine L., Luan, Xin, Boontop, Yuvarin, Nak-Eiam, Sorasak, Pimpasalee, Suttisan, Silalom, Sommyot & Thancharoen, Anchana, 2016, Further studies on south eastern Asian Luciolinae: 1. Sclerotia Ballantyne, a new genus of fireflies with back swimming larvae 2. Triangulara Pimpasalee, a new genus from Thailand (Coleoptera: Lampyridae), pp. 201-249 in Zootaxa 4170 (2) on pages 235-238, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4170.2.1, http://zenodo.org/record/257995