Luciola Laporte, 1833

Genus Luciola Laporte, 1833 View in CoL

Luciola Laporte, 1833 View in CoL s. str. ( sensu Ballantyne & Lambkin, 2013:64 View Cited Treatment , Ballantyne et al., 2019:85. Jusoh et al., 2018). Luciola Laporte, 1833:146 View in CoL . Lacordaire, 1857:335. Motschulsky, 1853:52. Gorham, 1880:99. Olivier, 1902:69; 1907:50. Lea, 1909:106. Ballantyne & Lambkin, 2013:64 View Cited Treatment . Yiu, 2012:92; 2017:92. Fu, 2014:23. Type species: Luciola pedemontana Motschulsky, 1853 . Designated by Motschulsky, 1853.

Luciola (Luciola) Laporte, 1833 . McDermott, 1966:103 ( Partim). Calder, 1998:178.

Bourgeoisia Olivier, 1908:17 View in CoL ; 1911:102. McDermott, 1966:117. Deheyn & Ballantyne, 2009:47. Ballantyne & Lambkin, 2013:64. Ballantyne et al., 2019:86. Type species: Luciola antipodum Bourgeois, 1905 View in CoL . Designated by McDermott, 1966. Diagnosis. Ballantyne and Lambkin (2013:64) defined Luciola View in CoL s. str. based on specimens of the type species from Pisa, Italy, and gave an extensive diagnosis which included the aedeagal lateral lobes visible beside the median lobe, the strongly curved median lobe of the aedeagus terminating in a preapical point, and elongate narrow pointed lobes arising from the inner ventral margins of the lateral lobes ( Jeng et al., 2003; Ballantyne et al., 2019).

Remarks. Luciola nicollieri has been placed to date in the category of Luciola sensu lato defined by Ballantyne et al. (2015). Luciola sensu lato placed species still listed are those assigned to Luciola in McDermott (1966) for which they currently cannot assign a genus and with future reliable association of males to determination of their generic placement. Many have types although in rather poor condition. In this study, we have confirmed here the generic features of genitalia of L. nicollieri (aedeagal lateral lobes visible beside the median lobe, the strongly median lobe of the aedeagus terminating in a preapical point, and elongate narrow pointed lobes arising from the inner ventral margins of the lateral lobes) are identical with Luciola . Hence, L. nicollieri could be placed to the category of Luciola Laporte, 1833 s. str. and as such L. nicollieri is described herein under this category.

List of Luciola species from Sri Lanka. The records in National Museum, Colombo, Sri Lanka reveal a list of seventeen species of Luciola and that includes additional two species such as, L. nigripes (Gorham, 1903) and L. vespertina ( Lacordaire, 1857) to the list of originally described Luciola from Sri Lanka by McDermott (1966). However, L. auritula (Olivier, 1910) is not included in the list of Luciola in National Museum, Sri Lanka through it is listed as one of originally described firefly from Sri Lanka by McDermott (1966) and Ballantyne et al. (2019). Luciolinae fireflies of Sri Lanka that were listed by McDermott (1966) and listed in the National Museum of Sri Lanka are mentioned in Table 1.

Note. All 18 species of Luciolinae in Table 1 had previously been described as Luciola spp .. Whereas only seven species are still valid under Luciola , the others were already assigned or proposed to transfer to other genera with recent taxonomic revisions. Among them, o nly three (3) species ( L. extricans , L. horni and L. nicollieri ) have been recorded in recent studies (2010–2022) of Sri Lanka. There are no subsequent records of the rest of the four Luciola ( L. auritula , L. candezei , L. nigripes , L. ochracea ) that had been recorded from Sri Lanka after their original description in early eighteenth century. Hence, a key is presented herein based on the identified L. extricans , L. horni and L. nicollieri in recent studies of Sri Lanka.