Family LAMPYRIDAE

Atyphella lychnis

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Family LAMPYRIDAE

Fireflies

Compiler and date details

August 2012 - ABRS

Andrew A. Calder, CSIRO Entomology, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia

Introduction

The Lampyridae include the true fireflies, the larvae of which are generally terrestrial and found in damp localities down the eastern coast of Australia, mainly restricted to rainforests and mangroves. The family is well represented in tropical regions and contains about 2000 species in 100 genera (Lawrence 1982). However, it is poorly represented in Australia and consists of 18 species in four genera (Calder 1998). Following revision by Ballantyne and Lambkin (2000), the Australian fauna consists of 15 species of Atyphella Olliff, seven species of Luciola Laporte, two species of Pteroptyx Olivier, and Pyrophanes beccarii Olivier and two unidentified species all included in the subfamily Luciolinae.

There are no endemic genera in Australia: Luciola, Pteroptyx Olivier and Pyrophanes Olivier are shared with New Guinea, Indonesia and the Indo-Chinese region, and Pteroptyx cribellata and Pyrophanes beccarii are widely distributed in New Guinea and on Cape York Peninsula.

Lampyris australis Fabricius, 1775 was the first Australian lampyrid to be described. It was collected by Banks in 1770 during the voyage of the Endeavour along the eastern seaboard of Australia. Boisduval (1835) described three species collected on the voyage of the Astrolabe during 1826–1829, while Olivier (1885, 1888, 1892, 1896, 1902) described six species and one subspecies of which only three are valid. Olliff (1890) described four species and a new genus, Atyphella, that was considered by Ballantyne (1968) to be a subgenus of Luciola but which she later restored to generic level (Ballantyne 1992). Blackburn (1897) described Luciola cowleyi and Macleay (1872) described Luciola flavicollis. Lea (1909) was the first to revise the Australian fauna. He enumerated nine species, two of which were newly described, and provided keys for the determination of the known species. Lea also commented that he doubted the generic distinctness of Atyphella, although he did not formally synonymise it with Luciola. In a further four papers, Lea (1915, 1921a, 1921b, 1929) described another seven species two of which are synonyms. Until the recent work of Ballantyne, Pic (1932, 1938) was the only other author to publish on the Australian fauna, describing two new species (both of which are synonyms). Ballantyne (1968) reviewed and provided keys to the genera and subgenera of Luciolini from the Australian and Indomalayan region. Ballantyne & McLean (1970) and Ballantyne (1987a) revised the genus Pteroptyx, while Ballantyne (1987b) reviewed lucioline morphology, taxonomy and mating behaviour and postulated that Luciola could be subdivided on the basis of abdominal structure. Ballantyne (1992) revised the lucioline fauna of the south-western Pacific, associated several larvae with their respective adults and identified another five new Australian species for her thesis dissertation. Olliff (1890) provided the first description of an Australian lampyrid larva, that of the Mt Wilson firefly, Atyphella lychnus Olliff, which he found under some decaying wood. More recently, Ballantyne & Buck (1979) and Ballantyne (1988) have provided illustrations and a description of the larva of Luciola pudica Olliff (now L. australis (Fabricius)). Olivier (1910) provided the first catalogue to the world lampyrid fauna and McDermott (1966) revised this work.

The first attempt at a classification of the fireflies was initiated by Laporte (1833) and refined further by Lacordaire (1857). Lacordaire (1857) considered lampyrids as a tribe of the catch-all family Malacodermes along with the tribes Lycides, Téléphorides, Drilides and Mélyrides. The Lampyrides was further subdivided into Lampyrides vrais and Luciolides. Olivier published numerous species lists and revisions between 1883 and 1907 which culminated in another classification (Olivier 1907) which recognised nine subfamilies. Green (1948) published another outline for a classification of the subfamily Lampyrinae based upon the Nearctic fauna. McDermott (1966) presented a higher classification of the world fauna which recognised seven subfamilies, and included the Luciolinae with three tribes. Crowson (1972) also gave a key to eight subfamilies of Lampyridae that he recognised. The four Australian genera (Atyphella, Luciola, Pteroptyx and Pyrophanes) are all included in the tribe Luciolini of the subfamily Luciolinae.

McDermott (1966) listed the type localities of Lampyris haemorrhoidalis Boisduval as Australia, L. incerta Boisduval as Oceania and L. serraticornis Boisduval as the Pacific Islands. However, examination of the original publication of Boisduval (1835) reveals that Lampyris haemorrhoidalis was described from "Iles de l'Océan Pacifique" and both L. incerta and L. serraticornis from "Nouvelle-Hollande". Thus Lampyris haemorrhoidalis, since it has not been recorded definitely from Australia, is excluded from the Australian fauna and both L. incerta and L. serraticornis should be considered Australian. Both species are so far unidentified due to the apparent loss of type specimens for critical study.

The designation of type species of some lampyrid genera has seemed to this author to be somewhat anarchical. Lucas (1920: 562) listed the type species of Pyrophanes as P. indica Motschulsky, a species not even included originally. The only other designation that Calder (1998) could find was that of McDermott (1964: 46), who designated Pyrophanes similis Olivier, a species that had originally been included in the genus and which is undoubtedly a valid designation. This designation was cited by Calder (1998). Olivier (1902) included two species when characterising his new genus Pteroptyx: Luciola testacea Motschulsky and L. malaccae Gorham. Lucas (1920: 557) subsequently designated Luciola testacea as type species for this genus. This designation was also cited by McDermott (1964: 46, 1966: 117). However, Ballantyne & McLean (1970: 237) considered that Luciola testacea Motschulsky had been wrongly assigned to Pteroptyx, in their sense, and later Ballantyne (1987a) showed that Pteroptyx is composed of two distinct groups: a group of Australian and New Guinea species with deflexed elytral apices and an Indomalayan-Philippines group which includes Luciola malaccae Olivier. This opinion was further modified by Ballantyne (1992) who showed that the bent-wing group of fireflies, all previously assigned to Pteroptyx, is actually a complex of three distinct groups. Ballantyne considered that a case should be submitted to the ICZN setting aside the original type species designation of Lucas (1920) since Olivier, in erecting Pteroptyx, had clearly intended to base the genus on species with deflexed elytral apices. Unfortunately, Olivier did not verify the identity of the two species he based his genus on. The generic description clearly shows that his intention had been to distinguish species with deflexed elytral apices, but instead erroneously based his concept on misidentified specimens. To date this case has not been submitted and Calder (1998) recorded the original type species designation of Lucas. It should be noted here that as considerable behavioural work on species of this genus exist (see Lloyd 1971, 1973a, 1973b, 1978, 1979, 1983), this problem should be attended to promptly.

Fireflies are nocturnal and well known for the production of a greenish-yellow light from abdominal light organs which is used in species specific mating displays. This light is produced by an enzyme-mediated, biochemical oxidation reaction that produces almost no heat and is controlled by the beetle's nervous system (McElroy & DeLuca 1978). Luciola species are commonly seen flying around at grass level during dusk in northern Australia. Species of the genus Pteroptyx are involved in the arboreal synchronous flashing in South-East Asia (Buck 1938) and Thailand (Buck & Buck 1966). These synchronous displays have all occurred in trees or shrubs along tidal rivers in mangrove swamps and Nipa palm stands (Ballantyne & McLean 1970).

The larvae of lampyrids occur in soil and leaf litter where they prey upon snails, slugs, earthworms and other invertebrates. Larvae inject toxic digestive enzymes into their prey, resulting in liquefaction of the prey's body contents; the contents are then imbibed by the larva (Lawrence 1982).

Diagnosis

Adult lampyrids are elongate, soft-bodied flattened beetles ranging in length from 4 to 30 mm. The head is at least partly concealed from above by the pronotum and the male has enlarged eyes. The antennae are short and vary from filiform to serrate and the antennal insertions are usually approximate. The mandibles are small, curved, falcate and perforate. The mesotrochantins are usually setiferous. The elytra are simple and complete in the male but are occasionally shortened in the female. Females of Atyphella scintillans Olliff are brachypterous (Ballantyne 1968). In Pteroptyx males the apices of the elytra are deflexed. Abdominal spiracles are located in the dorsally reflexed edges of the sternites. The fourth tarsal segment is bilobed and the claws usually simple, rarely appendiculate. Both sexes have luminous organs located near the apex of the abdomen. The female usually has an elongate ovipositor (Lawrence 1982; Lawrence & Britton 1994).

The larvae are elongate, flattened and somewhat narrowed anteriorly and posteriorly. The thoracic and abdominal tergites are sometimes laterally expanded to form projections as in Atyphella. The head is small and retractable and usually concealed by the pronotum. The mandibles are curved and perforate. Abdominal segment 8 bears a luminous organ, segment 9 is terminal and 10 has a holdfast organ consisting of several eversible, asperate, tubular filaments (Lawrence 1982).