Inflata Boontop, 2015

Inflata Boontop View in CoL gen. nov.

( Figs. 117 View FIGURES 117-122 −130)

Type species. Luciola indica Motschulsky View in CoL monobasic ( ZMMU). Figs. 117−120 View FIGURES 117-122 .

Diagnosis. Inflata gen. nov. is a southeastern Asian genus with orange pronotum and largely black elytra, a trisinuate posterior margin to V7 and no MFC. It differs from all other Luciolinae in the bulbous median lobe of the aedeagus. It belongs in a group of eight genera ( Australoluciola , Colophotia , Medeopteryx , Poluninius , Pteroptyx , Pyrophanes and Trisinuata ) characterized by an aedeagus with LL apices concealed behind the ML when viewed from beneath, pronotal width less than width across the elytral humeri, parallel-sided elytra, aedeagal sheath elongate slender, widest across the middle, with posterior half of sternite not emarginate on either side and tapering evenly towards a narrow entire apex. Males are distinguished from Colophotia in being without a median carina on V7, expanded and oblique PLP and bipartite LOs in V7; from most Pteroptyx in lacking a MFC, deflexed elytral apices, and bipartite LOs in V7; from Pyrophanes and Poluninius in being without incurving lobes along V7 and bipartite LO in V7; from Trisinuata by the entire LOs in V7; from most Medeopteryx in being without deflexed elytral apices.

Male. Pronotum: 0.15–0.3 as long as whole body; W/L 1.4–2; subrectangular in outline, with lateral margins either widest across the middle (B>A, C) or tapering posteriorly very slightly; anterolateral corners rounded obtuse, posterolateral corners angulate or slightly obtuse, if angulate approximately 90° and inclined at 90° to the median line, not projecting as far as rounded median posterior margin and separated from it by scarce emarginations; pronotal width <humeral width; dorsal surface without irregularities in posterolateral areas and longitudinal groove in lateral areas (1, 2); punctation dense (3); anterior margin not explanate (6); lateral margins without indentation at mid-point (15), or sinuousity in either horizontal or vertical plane (16); without indentation in lateral margin near posterolateral corner (17), and irregularities at corner (18).

Hypomera: closed. Median area of hypomeron not elevated in vertical direction (27); median area more widely flattened than elsewhere; pronotal width/ GHW index 1.1–1.5.

Elytron: punctation dense, not linear (34̄36), not as large as that of pronotum, nor widely and evenly spaced; apices not deflexed; epipleuron and suture extend beyond mid-point, almost to apex but not as ridge around apex, neither thickened in apical half; no interstitial lines; elytral carina absent (54); in horizontal specimen viewed from below epipleuron at elytral base wide, covering humerus (46); viewed from above the anterior margin of the epipleuron arises anterior to posterior margin of MS; epipleuron developed as a lateral ridge along most of length; sutural margins approximate along most of length in closed elytra; lateral margins parallel-sided.

Head: moderately depressed between eyes; well exposed in front of pronotum, not capable of complete retraction within prothoracic cavity; eyes moderately separated beneath at level of posterior margin of mouthpart complex; eyes above labrum moderately separated GHW 0.3–0.4 x SIW; frons-vertex junction rounded, without median elevation; posterolateral eye excavation not strongly developed, not visible in resting head position (61); antennal sockets on head between eyes, not contiguous, separated by <ASW or ASW; clypeolabral suture present, flexible, not in front of anterior eye margin when head viewed with labrum horizontal (68, 69); outer edges of labrum reach inner edges of closed mandibles. Mouthparts functional; apical maxillary palpomere subovate not laterally flattened and inner margin entire; apical labial palpomere as long as apical maxillary palpomere, laterally compressed, shaped like a narrow triangle 2̄3 x as long as wide, with entire inner margin. Antennae 11segmented; length>GHW to twice GHW; scape longer than FS 1; FS1 longer than pedicel, and slightly longer than FS 2; no segments flattened, shortened, or expanded; pedicel not produced.

Legs: without MFC (96); no femora or tibiae swollen or curved (97̄99, 102̄104); no basitarsi expanded or excavated (100).

Abdomen: without cuticular remnants in association with aedeagal sheath; ventrites without curved posterior margins; no ventrites extending anteriorly into emarginated posterior margin of anterior segment. V7: without median carina, median longitudinal trough, anteromedian depression on face of LO, incurving lobes or pointed projections, median ‘dimple’, or reflexed lobes; posterior margin trisinuate with MPP symmetrical, shallowly emarginate, not laterally compressed, as long as wide (L=W), not inclined dorsally nor engulfed by T8 apex, without dorsal ridge, median longitudinal trough; MPP longer and wider than PLP; PLP short only slightly produced and shorter and narrower than MPP; LO entire occupying most of V7, and reaching to sides, into PLP and almost to posterior margin; neither anterior nor posterior margin of LO emarginate. V6: LO present occupying almost all V6. T7 without prolonged anterolateral corners. T8: well sclerotized, symmetrical, W=L; posterior margin trisinuate; median posterior margin shallowly emarginate; widest across middle with lateral margins tapering evenly in both an anterior and posterior direction; without prolonged posterolateral corners, median posterior projections, not inclined ventrally nor engulfing posterior margin of V7 nor MPP, not extending conspicuously beyond posterior margin of V7; T8 ventral surface with well developed wide median longitudinal trough, margined by well defined symmetrical ridges; anterior end of ridges produced, with narrow apically acute flanges inclining in an anteromedian direction; without lateral depressed troughs, asymmetrical projections, median posterior ridge; concealed anterolateral arms of T8 slightly shorter than or subequal to visible posterior portion of T8, not laterally emarginated before their origins, not expanded dorsoventrally, expanded only in horizontal plane; without bifurcation of inner margin and ventrally directed pieces; lateral margins of T8 not enfolding sides of V7.

Aedeagal sheath (Fig. 131): symmetrical, of the form of Pteroptyx as defined here (see also Ballantyne & Lambkin 2009 Figs. 86 View FIGURES 77−87 –89) with lateral paraprocts visible at sides of sheath sternite; paraprocts do not envelop sides of sheath sternite; approx. 3 times as long as wide; symmetrical in posterior area where sheath sternite tapers evenly to a narrow rounded apex; anterior half of sternite relatively narrow, apically rounded; tergite without lateral arms extending anteriorly at sides of sheath sternite or projecting pieces along posterior margin of T9, anterior margin without transverse band.

Aedeagus (Figs. 127̄130): b/a =8/11; L/W = 3.7; (aedeagus L/W scored in Ballantyne & Lambkin (2013) as ‘narrow’; here the width of the ML was compared to the widest basal portion of the LL; if this measurement is taken across the narrow apical portions of the LL the L/W would increase substantially). LL: without lateral appendages; apices very slender, not visible from beneath at sides of very wide ML; of equal length, as wide as widest portion of ML in basal 1/2, then narrowing in apical 1/2; considerably shorter than ML, usually closely approximate along inner dorsal margins for apical 1/2 their length, separated longitudinally by half their length; dorsal base of LL symmetrical, shallowly and widely excavated. ML: symmetrical when viewed from beneath, narrow in anterior 2/5 with anterior margin medially emarginated; expanding considerably in next 2/5 and almost as wide at widest portion as basal area of LL; ML apex curving slightly dorsally, narrowed, posterior margin truncated with a preapical short spine. BP: not strongly sclerotised, not hooded, not strongly emarginated along anterior margin.

Female. Associated by having been taken in the same locality as the males; not observed in interactions with, or mating with males. Macropterous. Pronotum without irregularities in posterolateral areas; punctation moderate to dense; pronotal width less than humeral width; without indentation of lateral margin, irregularities at posterolateral corner; outline similar to that of male. Elytral punctation not as large as that of pronotum, nor evenly spaced; no interstitial lines; elytral carina absent. No legs or parts thereof swollen and /or curved. LO in V6 only, without any elevations or depressions or ridges on V7; median posterior margin of V7 emarginate, median area not broadly rounded; median posterior margin of V8 entire. Bursa not investigated.

Larva. Not reliably associated. Raj (1947) presented a description of an apparently terrestrial larva from Tambaram India which he assigned to Pyrophanes virtually by a process of elimination. “Most probably it is related to Luciola and belongs in the sub-family Luciolini (sic). The only other Indian Lampyrid genus of this sub-family is Pyrophanes … The only Indian species of this genus described is P. indica Mots. ” ( Raj 1947: 194). The larva has an antennal sense cone surmounted by setae indicating it is probably terrestrial (see Fu et al. 2012b). Raj also mentioned conspicuous perforations in abdominal tergites 2–8 as well as the peculiar structure of the pleurites (laterotergites) which were elongate with posterior margin forked The dorsal arm is shorter than the ventral process with a spiracle lying in the fork. We are unable to confirm the identity of this specimen as we were unable to locate it.

Etymology. The generic name is feminine, and Latinised from the English word inflate meaning to cause to swell, to depict the characteristic inflated median lobe of the aedeagus.

Remarks. The generic name is to be attributed solely to Boontop in recognition of her extensive collecting activities in Thailand.