Ankistruranus Silveira, Nunes & Souto, 2022

Silveira, Luiz, Souto, Paula, Khattar, Gabriel, Takiya, Daniela M., Nunes, Viviane, Mermudes, José Ricardo M., Monteiro, Ricardo & Macedo, Margarete, 2022, Unlocking the evolution of abdominal specializations in Luciuranus fireflies (Coleoptera, Lampyridae), Zoologica Scripta 51 (6), pp. 708-723 : 716

Subgenus Ankistruranus Silveira, Nunes & Souto subgen. Nov.

Type species: Luciuranus sinistrus Silveira, Khattar & Mermudes, 2016

Etymology

Ankistruranus is a composite word consisting of Ankistrus , a Greek word that stands for ‘hook’, a species-specific characteristic of the terminalia in this subgenus; and the Greek deity Uranus . Gender masculine.

Diagnosis

Pronotum with posterior angles rounded, obtuse, not projected. Males with pygidium almost 3x longer than sternum VIII, bearing ventral keels (except in L. carioca ; Figure 2h ). Syntergite with a distinct transverse suture, often with a conspicuous longitudinal suture (lacking in L. carioca ). Sternum IX asymmetrical, lacking apical setae ( Figure 2d ). Paramere usually reniform, convergent apically, sometimes curved inwards at the apex; outer margins subparallel; basal projection long, medially fused, basally projected. Females (unknown in L. takiyae ) with sternum VII more sclerotized than sternum VIII (except in L. carioca ; Figure 2f ); genital tract with one spermatheca ( Figure 2a ; Figure S2B ), spermatophore digesting gland large (~5x wider than spermatheca).

Remarks

Luciuranus (Ankistruranus) subgen. nov. has five species, all of which with male clamping organs consisting of modifications of the terminalia, thought to be involved in the reproductive clamping device. This subgenus can be easily distinguished from Luciuranus s. s. by: (i) male pygidium usually with ventral keels (absent in L. carioca ); (ii) males with syntergite bearing a transverse suture; (iii) arms of sternum ix asymmetrical in length (also asymmetrical in width in L. (Ankistruranus) sinistrus , L. (Ankistruranus) jameshooki and L. (Ankistruranus) dextrus ); (iv) paramere with apophysis medially fused and projected basally. Females of Ankistruranus subgen. nov. have a single spermatheca and a large spermatophore digesting gland ( Figure S2B ).

The following character states are potential unambiguous synapomorphies of Luciuranus (Ankistruranus) subgen. nov.: male pygidium elongate (2–2.5x longer than wide, char. 22:2); transversal suture of syntergite conspicuous (char. 26:0); male sternum IX 2x longer than aedeagus (char. 29:1); and median cleft of male sternum IX wider than right arm (char. 33:1) ( Figure S3 ).

Checklist of Luciuranus (Ankistruranus) Silveira, Nunes & Souto subgen. nov.

Luciranus (Ankistruranus) sinistrus Silveira, Khattar & Mermudes, 2016

L. (Ankistruranus) carioca Silveira et al., 2018

L. (Ankistruranus) jameshooki Silveira, Khattar & Mermudes, 2016

L. (Ankistruranus) dextrus Silveira, Khattar & Mermudes,

2016

L. (Ankistruranus) takiyae Silveira et al., 2018

Figures

FIGURE 2 Maximum likelihood ancestral state reconstruction showing the evolution of relevant reproductive traits of Luciuranus species. Note the co-evolution between male and female abdominal traits. (a) L. jameshooki, female internal genitalia, ventral. (b) L. josephi, female internal genitalia tract, ventral. (c) L. josephi, male sternum IX, ventral. (d) L. carioca, male sternum IX, ventral. (e) L. josephi, female abdomen, lateral. (f) L. jameshooki, female abdomen, lateral. (g) L. josephi, male pygidium, ventral. (h) L. jameshooki, male pygidium, ventral. SDG, spermatophore digesting gland; ST, spermathecae

FIGURE 3 —Spatial and temporal distribution of Luciuranus species, showing the total spatial and temporal isolation among taxa. (a) Outline of the Rio de Janeiro state, showing the clustered spatial occurrence of Luciuranus species at the regional scale. (b) Elevational (in bands of 200m) and temporal occurrences of Luciuranus species by month; each cell shows total specimens sampled, dashed lines show months in which a given species was sampled in more than one year (see Section 2: Material & Methods): the upper, middle and lower panel refers to the Serra dos Órgãos range, Serra da Mantiqueira range and the Tijuca Massif, respectively.