Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 7 No. 5: October 2024
Type: Correspondence
Published: 2024-10-30
DOI: 10.11646/palaeoentomology.7.5.3
Page range: 590–593
Abstract views: 432
PDF downloaded: 8

The first firefly fossil (Coleoptera: Lampyridae) from Dominican amber

Laboratório de Entomologia, Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, A1–107, Bloco A, Av. Carlos Chagas Filho, 373, Cidade Universitária, Ilha do Fundão, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, 17. listopadu 50, Palacky University, 779 00, Olomouc, Czech Republic
Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, 17. listopadu 50, Palacky University, 779 00, Olomouc, Czech Republic; Laboratory of Biodiversity & Molecular Evolution, Czech Advanced Technology Research Institute, Slechtitelu 27, Palacky University, 77900 Olomouc, Czech Republic; Czech Advanced Technology and Research Institute (CATRIN), Palacký University Olomouc
2F., No. 138, Aly. 118, Ln. 235, Dedong St., East Dist., Tainan City 701030, Taiwan, China
Biology Department, Western Carolina University, 460 Memorial Drive, Cullowhee, North Carolina 28723, USA
bioluminescence Lampyrinae Lamprocerini firefly taxonomy Coleoptera Lampyridae

Abstract

Fireflies (Coleoptera: Lampyridae) comprise ~2,500 extant species worldwide (Ferreira et al., 2020). Considering the extant diversity of firefly species, their fossil record is scant, with only eight taxa across four subfamilies: Luciolinae, Ototretinae, Lamprohizinae, and Lampyrinae (Supplementary file 1; Kazantsev, 2024). Dominican amber may have the best quality of preservation among fossil resins, with a rich diversity of fossil specimens (Grimaldi & Engel, 2005) from the early Miocene (20–15 Ma) (Iturralde-Vinent & MacPhee, 2019). However, no firefly taxon was previously known from this deposit. Here, we describe the first Lampyridae fossil from Dominican amber. It represents a new species of the extant Neotropical genus Lychnacris Motschulsky, 1853, which has 19 extant species known from the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean (Kazantsev & Perez-Gelabert, 2009, 2013; Perez-Gelabert, 2011).

References

  1. Ferreira, V.S., Keller, O. & Branham, M.A. (2020) Multilocus phylogeny support the nonbioluminescent firefly Chespirito as a new subfamily in the Lampyridae (Coleoptera: Elateroidea). Insect Systematics and Diversity, 4 (6), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1093/isd/ixaa014
  2. Grimaldi, D. & Engel, M.S. (2005) Evolution of the insects. Cambridge University Press, New York, USA, 755 pp.
  3. Iturralde-Vinent, M.A. & MacPhee, R.D. (2019) Remarks on the age of Dominican amber. Palaeoentomology, 2 (3), 236–240. https://doi.org/10.11646/palaeoentomology.2.3.7
  4. Kazantsev, S.V. (2006) New firefly taxa from Hispaniola and Puerto Rico (Coleoptera: Lampyridae), with notes on biogeography. Russian Entomological Journal, 15 (4), 367–392.
  5. Kazantsev, S.V. (2008) New fireflies from Puerto Rico (Coleoptera: Lampyridae). Zoosystematica Rossica, 17 (1), 101–104. https://doi.org/10.31610/zsr/2008.17.1.101
  6. Kazantsev, S.V. (2024) Eolamprohiza andrushchenkoi gen.n., sp.n., a new firefly from Baltic amber, with a checklist of fossil Lampyridae (Insecta: Coleoptera). Russian Entomological Journal, 33 (2), 203–209.
  7. Kazantsev, S.V. & Perez-Gelabert, D.E. (2009) Fireflies of Hispaniola (Coleoptera: Lampyridae). Russian Entomological Journal, 17 (4), 367–402.
  8. Kazantsev, S.V. & Perez-Gelabert, D.E. (2013) New species of fireflies from the Dominican Republic (Coleoptera: Lampyridae). Zoosystematica Rossica, 22 (2), 266–270. https://doi.org/10.31610/zsr/2013.22.2.266
  9. Kundrata, R., Bocakova, M. & Bocak, L. (2014) The comprehensive phylogeny of the superfamily Elateroidea (Coleoptera: Elateriformia). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 76, 162–171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2014.03.012
  10. Kusy, D., He, J.W., Bybee, S.M., Motyka, M., Bi, W.X., Podsiadlowski, L., Li, X.Y. & Bocak, L. (2021) Phylogenomic relationships of bioluminescent elateroids define the ‘lampyroid’ clade with clicking Sinopyrophoridae as its earliest member. Systematic Entomology, 46 (1), 111–123. https://doi.org/10.1111/syen.12451
  11. Lawrence, J.F., Beutel, R.G., Leschen, R.A.B. & Ślipiński, A. (2010) Glossary of morphological terms. In: Leschen, R.A.B., Beutel, R.G. & Lawrence, J.F. (Eds), Handbook of zoology, Arthropoda: Insecta; Coleoptera, Beetles. Volume 2: Morphology and systematics (Elateroidea, Bostrichiformia, Cucujiformia partim). Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin, New York, pp. 9–20. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110911213.9
  12. Martin, G.J., Stanger-Hall, K.F., Branham, M.A., Silveira, L.F.L., Lower, S.E., Hall, D.W., Li, X.Y., Lemmon, A.R., Lemmon, E.M. & Bybee, S.M. (2019) Higher-level phylogeny and reclassification of Lampyridae (Coleoptera: Elateroidea). Insect Systematics and Diversity, 3 (6), 11, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1093/isd/ixz024
  13. McDermott, F.A. (1964) The taxonomy of the Lampyridae (Coleoptera). Transactions of the American Entomological Society, 90 (1), 1–72.
  14. McDermott, F.A. (1966) Lampyridae. In: Steel, W.O. (Ed.), Coleopterorum catalogus supplementa. Pars 9. Uitgeverij Dr. W. Junk, Gravenhage, Netherlands, 1–149.
  15. Perez-Gelabert, D. (2011) Distribución de las luciérnagas (Coleoptera: Lampyridae) en La Hispaniola y su correspondencia con las paleoislas. Novitates Caribaea, 4, 126–130. https://doi.org/10.33800/nc.v0i4.164
  16. Silveira, L.F.L. & Mermudes, J.R.M. (2014) Systematic review of the firefly genus Amydetes Illiger, 1807 (Coleoptera: Lampyridae), with description of 13 new species. Zootaxa, 3765 (3), 201–248. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3765.3.1