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

description: Medeopteryx semimarginata (Olivier 1883) comb. nov.
Figs 324–344
Luciola semimarginata Olivier 1883: 73; 1902: 85; 1913b: 59. McDermott 1966: 113. Ballantyne et al. 2016 figs 13–16, Tables 3, 4.
Type. Possible syntype male. INDONESIA. Sulawesi as Celebes. Labelled: 1. Pink handwritten Luciola semimarginata Ern Oliv.; 2. Handwritten Celebes; 3. Printed vu et nommé par Ern. Olivier. (MNHN) (Figs 325, 325, 328).
Other specimens examined. INDONESIA. Sulawesi as Celebes 2 males, female labelled 1. Tjamba Zuid Celebes, Doherty, viii−ix; 2. Brit. Mus. 1923–320 (NHML) (Figs 326, 327, 329, 330).
Diagnosis. 1.7 cm long. Clearly distinguished from all other Medeopteryx by its large size. Males similar to most Medeopteryx in having orange pronotum and dark brown elytra; with basal half or less of epipleuron narrowly dingy orange and semitransparent; abdomen with all tergites and ventrites anterior to the LOs pale yellowish. Pronotum differing from other Medeopteryx in being wider across the posterior third (i.e. C>A, B) with broadly rounded anterolateral corners and rounded obtuse posterolateral corners, and wider across posterior margin than across elytral humeri. Elytral apices not deflexed. T8 with a single broad and apically truncated flange on left side inclining anteriorly (right flange may have been broken off). Aedeagal sheath symmetrical, without paraprocts (Figs 332, 333). Aedeagus (Figs 334–337): b/a 0.8, LL separate along most of their dorsal length, slightly divergent in the median area. Female macropterous coloured as for male except for white LO which is confined to V6; V5 yellowish with lateral brown markings, and V7, 8 brown; posterior margin of V7 not emarginated; two pairs of well-defined bursa plates. Larva not associated.
Remarks. This is one of the largest species in the Luciolinae. We are unable to confirm two aspects of Olivier’s (1883) description: 1. He referred to large oval depressions on the pronotum. He may have been referring to the depressions along the posterior margin. 2. He referred to the elytral punctation as ‘serree’. The elytral punctures are not in lines nor are any of the interstitial lines well defined. Olivier highlighted the ‘form’ of the pronotum as we do here.All other Medeopteryx have pronotal width less than humeral width. This is the only Medeoteryx species where the pronotal outline approaches that of Atyphella i.e. wider across the posterior third with lateral margins strongly divergent posteriorly. Olivier (1913b) recorded semimarginata from Borneo. We are unable to locate this specimen. The specimens examined here including a possible syntype male are from Sulawesi. Ballantyne et al. (2016) figured certain features of this species as Luciola semimarginata.
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 110-114, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4687.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/3508098