Abscondita terminalis

Biology: Larvae, active on the wet soils of the paddies and grass margins (Fig. 6 B; Fig. 26 A), attacked and ate both living and dead ants and small insects. In the laboratory, larvae preyed on termites (Reticulitermes chinensis Snyder, 1923) (Fig. 26 B) and adult scuttle flies (Megaselia scalaris Loew, 1866). Captive larvae fed on fresh-killed mealworms (Tenebrio molitor). Cannibalism was observed when larvae lacked food. Larvae, which were observed glowing both in the wild and the laboratory, had six instars, taking almost a year to mature (Table 12). Final instar larvae constructed pupal cells in soil taken from the collection site (Fig. 26 C) with pupal period averaging 10.1 ± 1.4 days (n = 20). Pupae were observed (after 3 minutes of dark adaption) to emit a continuous pale luminescent glow from the entire body except the darkened compound eyes and hind wings (Fig. 27 A, B, C, D). The bodies of newlyemergent adults were also observed weakly glowing (Fig. 27 E), though this luminescence gradually disappeared after ca 3 hours when sclerotization was complete. Eclosing males exhibited protandry and a 1.06: 1.00 sex ratio of male (n = 85) to female (n = 80) (Fig. 28). Laboratory-reared males (n = 10) could mate twice but females only mated once (n = 10) in 24 hours. Mated females (n = 15) laid an average of 47.6 ± 3.7 eggs individually. Eggs hatched 17 to 22 days later. In captivity, the mean life span of males (n = 17) was 10.2 ± 1.8 days while female (n = 14) span averaged 11.9 ± 1.7 days. TABLE 12. Development of larval Abs. terminalis. instar Number (n) Body length Body width (mm) Head width (mm) Pronotum width Instar period (d) * (mm) * * * (mm) * 1 st 11 3.04 ± 0.25 0.68 ± 0.06 0.29 ± 0.03 0.69 ± 0.05 16.9 ± 2.5 2 nd 10 4.22 ± 0.63 0.99 ± 0.07 0.42 ± 0.04 1.01 ± 0.04 16.1 ± 1.2 3 rd 9 7.29 ± 0.50 1.51 ± 0.05 0.59 ± 0.08 1.57 ± 0.04 26.7 ± 3.1 4 th 17 11.03 ± 0.18 2.29 ± 0.05 0.67 ± 0.03 2.34 ± 0.04 29.8 ± 3.4 5 th 16 15.40 ± 0.17 2.72 ± 0.06 0.76 ± 0.03 2.93 ± 0.11 38.8 ± 2.5 6 th 12 17.40 ± 0.40 2.89 ± 0.09 0.95 ± 0.02 3.01 ± 0.03 159.5 ± 8.8 FIGURE 27. Luminescence of pupae and adults of Abs. terminalis (Scale bar = 5 mm). A 3 - day old male pupa ventral (F 4.5, ISO 200, 266 s); B 3 - day old male pupa lateral (F 4.5, ISO 200, 439 s); C 3 - day old male pupa dorsal (F 4.5, ISO 200, 490 s); D 7 - day old female pupa ventral (F 14, ISO 800, 625 s); E, newly-emergent female adult within 3 hours (F 4.5, ISO 640, 301 s). Adult mating season, with one generation a year, ranged from 14 May to 13 June all three years at the site in Wuhan, Hubei Province. First warm-up flashes began 27 min after sunset; first flying males flashed 33 min after sunset and continued for two hours displaying above and near the paddies, with peak display occurring one hour after sunset. When patrolling, males usually flew 2 metres high in a straight and rapid manner while flashing their mostly 4 – 8 pulse (range 2 – 13) flash trains (Fig. 29 A). At 20.2 ° C and 94.4 % humidity, mean flash duration of flying flashing male is 174.68 ± 14.91 ms, interflash interval 102.65 ± 25.68 ms, interval 1508.20 ± 580.94 ms and rate 0.39 ± 0.08 (flashes / sec) (n = 14) (Fig. 29 A). Females, cryptically positioned in the tall grass of the paddy margins, signalled with a fast single pulse seemingly independent of the male multi-pulse flash train. Female courtship flashes had mean durations of 236.69 ± 43.00 ms, flash interval 367.76 ± 165.53 ms and rate 1.81 ± 0.56 (n = 7) (Fig. 29 C). After two hours of flash-train flashing, few males remained in courtship flight, but many males were observed perched on the tips of grass emitting a different flash. The perched flash pattern consisted of flashing slowly via the first segment of light organ (V 6) with flash duration 238.19 ± 73.61 ms and interval 767.39 ± 189.67 ms (n = 14) followed by a quick bright two segments of light organ (V 6 and 7) with flash duration 255.17 ± 70.56 ms and interval 238.95 ± 117.29 (n = 11) (Fig. 29 B). These perched males flashed at least one minute, paused for twenty or thirty seconds, and then repeated the perched flashes. During the field studies, one male was observed to land close to the female, mount and mate quickly within one minute. No flash dialogues were observed during copulation. In the field, an apparent changing operational sex ratio was noted with males appearing relatively more abundant early in the season and females more numerous by season’s end (unquantified observation). Females were observed to climb on the tips of grass or open ground and flash later at night after the males had ceased flying. Bioluminescence emission was yellow (λ max = 560 nm) for both sexes (females n = 6, 30 readings; males n = 5, 25 readings). A centipede Scolopendra subspinipes mutilans Koch was observed feeding on a still glowing male Abs. terminalis. However, observation revealed that nocturnal orb-weaver spiders including A. ventricosus were more common predators of the courting males.