Medeopteryx tarsalis 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 tarsalis

description: <i>Medeopteryx tarsalis</i> (Olivier) comb. nov. <i>Luciola tarsalis</i> Olivier, 1885: 360; 1902:72. <i>Pteroptyx tarsalis</i> (Olivier). Olivier, 1909b:319. McDermott, 1966:117. Ballantyne &amp; McLean, 1970:253. <i>Pteroptyx tarsale</i> Olivier, 1910b:48; 1913b:417. Ballantyne &amp; McLean, 1970:253 (synonymy). <b>Holotype.</b> Male. <b>NEW GUINEA</b>: 143.00E, 9.00S, Western Pr., Fly River (MCSN). <b>Other specimens examined. NEW</b> <b>GUINEA</b>: New Ireland: 150.48E, 2.34S, Kavieng, 11.ii.1966, G. Monteith, 2 males, 8 females (Tube 222 UQIC). <b>NEW</b> <b>GUINEA</b>: 143.00E, 9.00S, Western Pr., Sturt Is., Fly River, 5.x. 1936, male, 2 females; 7.x. 1936, 2 males, 4 females; 8.x. 1936, 2 males, 3 females; 14–16.x. 1936, 15 males, 18 females (AMNH). Mediri, 60 miles up Fly River, 8.xi.1922, A. McCulloch, male, 2 females (AMSA). <b>Diagnosis.</b> 6.2–9.1 mm long; dorsally yellow with elytral apices dark brown: the apical brown area may extend anteriorly in strips of decreasing width, sometimes reaching humeral angles; distinguished from all other New Guinean <i>Medeopteryx</i> by its dorsal colouration. <b>Remarks.</b> This species is only known from mainland New Guinea at the Fly River, and on New Ireland. There are no details of light production and the two populations may not be conspecific. The pale dorsal colouration with dark tipped elytra which are sometimes dark margined probably provides some protective advantage. To the unaided eye the outline of the lateral margin of the body is totally disrupted.
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 96, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3653.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/5265340
description: {"references": ["Olivier, E. (1885) Catalogue des Lampyrides faisant partie des collections du Musee Civique de Genes. Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Genova, (2 a) 2, 333 - 374.", "Olivier, E. (1902) Catalogue des especes de ' Luciola' et genres voisins decrits jusqu'a ce jour. Revue Scientifique du Bourbonnais et du centre de la France, 15, 69 - 88.", "Olivier, E. (1909 b) Sur les Luciola d'Australie. Transactions of the Entomological Society of London, 1909, lxxxi - lxxxii.", "McDermott, F. A. (1966) Lampyridae Pars. 9. Coleopterorum Catalogus (Junk-Schenkling) (Ed. Sec), 1 - 149 (Luciolini, 98 - 118).", "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.", "Olivier, E. (1910 b) Pars 9. Lampyridae. Coleopterorum Catalogus (Junk-Schenkling), (Luciolinae, 40 - 48).", "Olivier, E. (1913 b) Lampyridae. Resultats de L'Expedition Scientifique Neerlandaise a la Nouvelle-Guinee en 1907 et 1909 sous les auspices de Dr H. R. Lorentz. Zoologie Livraison III. Nova Guinea, 9, 417 - 422."]}