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| Lamellipalpodes asmita Chakrovorty & Bhattacharjee, 2025 |
Highlights
• A new species of Lamellipalpodes discovered from India.
• For the first time, the mechanosensitive and chemosensitive sensilla of this subfamily have been described.
• Twenty-four different sensilla has been identified.
• A significant difference in the type of sensilla present in palpomeres and antennomeres has been observed.
• Three sensilla of distinct morphology and a specialized apico-marginal sensory field on maxillary palps has been identified.
Abstract
A new species of non-luminous firefly, Lamellipalpodes asmita Chakrovorty & Bhattacharjee sp. nov. (Coleoptera: Lampyridae: Ototretinae) discovered from the campus of the University of Kalyani, West Bengal, India is described, illustrated and compared with other known species of the genus from India. The male genitalia, morphometry and other important characters are illustrated and described. Additionally, a dichotomous identification key to Indian Lamellipalpodes is provided. The mechanoreceptive and chemoreceptive sensilla of Lamellipalpodes asmita Chakrovorty & Bhattacharjee sp. nov. were studied utilizing scanning electron microscopy. Ten different types of sensilla namely, sensilla ampullacea, sensilla basiconica, sensilla chaetica, sensilla coeloconica, sensilla placodea, sensilla styloconica, sensilla trichodia, cone-shaped sensillum, dome-shaped sensilla, peg-like sensilla and their twenty-four different subtypes have been identified with maxillary and labial palps possessing eight subtypes not found on antennomeres. Cone-shaped, dome-shaped and peg-like sensilla were of distinct, previously unknown morphology. This study unravels the significance of the atypical maxillary palp and labial palp morphology of the species and sheds light on structure–function relationship of these unusual morphological features.
Keywords: Non-luminous firefly, Functional morphology, Large palpomeres, Oriental region, Asia
Taxonomy
Order: Coleoptera Linnaeus, 1758
Family: Lampyridae Rafinesque, 1815
Subfamily: Ototretinae McDermott, 1964
Genus Lamellipalpodes Maulik, 1921
Lamellipalpodes asmita Chakrovorty & Bhattacharjee sp. nov.
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| Lamellipalpodes asmita Chakrovorty & Bhattacharjee sp. nov. (male): (A) Dorsal habitus; (B) Ventral habitus; (C) Lateral habitus. |
Etymology: This species is named after Dr. Asmita Samadder, Assistant Professor, Department of Zoology, University of Kalyani, for her contribution in the field of nanomedicine, molecular biology and cytogenetics and her mentorship and patronage to Arnob Chakrovorty and Banani Bhattacharjee.
Arnob Chakrovorty and Banani Bhattacharjee. 2025. Lamellipalpodes asmita sp. nov. (Coleoptera: Lampyridae: Ototretinae), A New Species of non-luminous firefly from West Bengal, India with SEM study of mechano- and chemoreceptive sensilla. Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology. 28(1); 102367. DOI: doi.org/10.1016/j.aspen.2024.102367
