Genus
Luciola The
earliest work carried out on this genus was by Okada in 1935 on the photogenic
organs. The photogenic organs of these fireflies as in their allied forms exist
in the shape of thin plates covering the ventral surface of one or two segments
of the abdomen near the posterior extremity, that is the 6th and 7th
in the male and the 6th only in the female.
Only
two species were identifed from our field surveys.
Luciola ovalis
(Hope)
is also known as
Luciola circumdata
Motschulsky. This is probably a
junior synonym of
L. ovalis
(Hope) as there are no known obvious
differences between these two species. The other species identifed was
Luciola
sp.
and this species is unrepresented in the Natural History Museum
collections in London.
Luciola
ovalis was found in Penang and Selangor along the coastal areas and
Luciola
sp was found in the Federal Territory, but as this species is undescribed it
could be a possible hybrid. Due to the unavailability of updated taxonomic keys,
there is still much information desired regarding this species.
