Pygoluciola Wittmer, 1939

Nada, B. & Ballantyne, L. A., 2018, A new species of Pygoluciola Wittmer with unusual abdominal configuration, from lowland dipterocarp forest in Peninsular Malaysia (Coleoptera: Lampyridae: Luciolinae), Zootaxa 4455 (2), pp. 343-362 : 346-347

Pygoluciola Wittmer, 1939

Pygoluciola Wittmer, 1939: 21 . Ballantyne 2008: 1. Ballantyne & Lambkin 2006: 21; 2009: 107; 2013: 108. Ballantyne Lambkin Boontop et al. 2015: 8. Ballantyne Lambkin Luan et al. 2016: 204. Fu & Ballantyne 2008: 1. Fu Ballantyne & Lambkin 2010: 2; 2012: 6. Wattanachaiyingcharoen & Nak-Eiam 2012: 24.

Luciola subgenus Pygoluciola (Wittmer) . McDermott, 1966: 115; Ballantyne, 1968: 119; 1987: 173. Ballantyne & Lambkin, 2000: 82; 2001: 361; Ballantyne & McLean, 1970: 233.

Type species. Pygoluciola stylifer Wittmer, 1939 , by monotypy (LEIDEN).

Diagnosis. It is not always possible to diagnose to genus all species of Pygoluciola using external morphology only. However all Pygoluciola have a similar distinctive, and easily recognised, genitalic pattern. The aedeagal sheath has an elongate narrow sternite which extends well beyond the lateral tergite articulations and may bear paired lobes at its expanded apex. The aedeagal LL are divisible into two sections, a basal well sclerotized portion with an asymmetrical anterior margin, a short wide median dorsal separation, and a membranous apical portion which is elongated, usually reaching well beyond the rounded apex of the ML. LO in V7 are always entire.

Based on external morphology, Pygoluciola exists in at least three different forms: 1. The form described originally by Wittmer (1939) has V7 with a median posterior prolongation which often curves dorsally and may be engulfed by a similar elongate prolongation of the midposterior margin of T8, which curves ventrally. 2. In P. dunguna sp. nov. the median posterior margin of V7 is prolonged and inclines slightly upward where the tip of the MPP abuts against the underside of the narrow T8 (Figs 3, 10, 12, 15). 3. In both P. cowleyi (Blackburn) and P. qingyu (Fu et Ballantyne) there is no MPP and the posterior margin of V7 is evenly rounded; the posterior margin of T 8 in P. qingyu is very narrowly downturned (at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the body) but not narrowed. LOs in V7 are often retracted from the lateral and posterior margins and these lateral margins may be uprolled. T8 is always narrower than T7, often with parallel sides, elongate slender anterolateral prolongations, and entire posterior margin; dorsoventral muscles joining the lateral margins of T7 to the ventrite below create depressed areas at the sides of T7. Known females are macropterous and bursa plates appear to be hooked with a single point of attachment to the inside walls of the bursa and two or three extensions of irregular length, which incline in an anterior, posterior and inner direction. Larvae associated by breeding for P. qingyu are terrestrial with strong well sclerotized dorsal plates, and mandibles with two inner teeth.