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The Australian and Tasmanian Glowworms
In the Australian region, the adult of the glowworm was described from the Ida Bay Caves of Tasmania by E. W. Ferguson in 1925. He considered this form was closely similar to the New Zealand species and named it Arachnocampa tasmaniensis. Ferguson had larvae and adults of both sexes. A male and three larvae of the Tasmanian form were given to the present author by Dr. J. W. Evans. These alcohol specimens collected many years ago were not in good order, but the larvae closely resemble those of the New Zealand form and are the same approximate size. Two small batches of the glowworms of New South Wales were examined alive. Dr. A. R. Woodhill's specimens came from Lithgow, in the foothills of the Blue Mountains. Those supplied by Mr. David McAlpine were found on steep damp rocky banks around a waterfall which it was said tended to dry up in summer. These glowworms were scarce. This situation was at Hazelbrook, also in the foothills of the Blue Mountains. Two snares examined by the writer seemed identical with those seen in New Zealand.
Dr. Nicholson kindly supplied the present writer with a synopsis of knowledge of the N.S.W. form. He wrote: “Many years ago I became interested in glowworms when I saw them in a deep narrow ravine near Wentworth Falls. I made simple observations on their feeding habits but failed in my not very serious attempts to breed them. I am not sure whether the local species has been described, but the biology of the genus Ceroplatus (Mycetophilidae) was discussed by Skuse in a long taxonomic paper published in 1888 (Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 3: 1151), and he described Ceroplatus mastersi in this paper. He suggested that it had a luminous larva. Two years later (Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 5: 601) he mentioned it again, saying he had bred it from “luminous larvae” in decaying logs. This situation strongly contrasts with rock cracks in which I found “Glowworms”. Perhaps there is more than one species here. Edwards (Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 54: 174) in 1929 described C. mangalorensis from Tasmania, but gave no information on its biology. Skuse in 1890 (Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 5: 677) described the New Zealand species as Bolitophila luminosa. Tonnoir was very interested in the Mycetophilidae, and I seem to remember his saying that he considered the New Zealand and the Blue Mountain glowworms to be identical. This opinion is such a surprising one that I feel fairly confident about my recollection. Tonnoir's collection may throw some light upon this. It now belongs to the School of Tropical Medicine.”
Dr. Nicholson's remark about Tonnoir's view as to the identity of the N.Z. and N.S.W. forms would explain why no special effort has been made in the past to breed out the adult of the N.S.W. form, as Skuse already had a New Zealand specimen from Hudson. Tonnior and Edwards (1926) mention that imagines of
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Bolitophila luminosa are rare and found only in a few collections. This statement still applies today. Hudson (1955) and Gatenby and Cotton (1959) have been able to breed out adults in captivity. Directions for doing this have been given in previous papers by Gatenby (1959), Gatenby and Cotton (1959) and in a recent number of “Tuatara” (1959) by Gatenby.
At Sydney University, Dr. Woodhill had, to begin with, shown the writer some lantern slides of photographs taken by Dr. A. J. Nicholson. One of these photographs of the larva was also reproduced in K. C. McKeown's “Insect Wonders of Australia,” 1935, and after examination of these photographs, the present author knew what to expect when he looked at living New South Wales glowworms.
There are remarkable differences between the New Zealand form and the New South Wales specimens. The latter are more sharply and darkly pigmented and colourful, and the less pigmented segmental combed bands or areas appear to protrude more, so that especially in the lower region, the segments are very clearly marked when the larva moves. In the New Zealand species the comb band at the eight abdominal segment is the largest, whereas in the New South Wales form the combed areas in the 7in segment in the live specimen appeared to protrude more. Since the glowworm seems to live at times ventral surface upwards, the flattened dorsal side would be applied to the runway. The other differences are in colour and arrangement of pigmented areas. In the New Zealand form the fat bodies are greyish yellow, in the N.S.W. form they range from bright amethyst green to greyish green. The Lithgow forms are bright green, those from Hazelbrook are distinctly greenish. In the N.S.W. species from both localities, the pigmented areas beneath the integument are more regularly and sharply arranged and darker. The areas of pigment extend well into the 7th segment, where, in the N.Z. form they tend to become less dark.
The mucus glands of the Lithgow specimens were chocolate colour, each cell being marked by a yellow central disc which, together with the ground colour, produced a café au lait effect. The specimens from Hazelbrook had light chocolate mucus glands, those from New Zealand were dark chocolate. In the N.S.W. specimens the malpighian tubes were greyish pink or brownish pink, in the N.Z. species they were pure pink. In the N.S.W. form the oesophageal valve was not as yellow as it is in the N.Z. form.
These differences in colour might be partly due to pigments absorbed from the food; possibly the colour of the fat body may be due to the eating of greenish midges, but nothing is known about this. The extension of very dark coffee or raw sienna brown pigment areas into the 7th segment is unlike anything seen in the N.Z. form. On the basis of colour the two types of glowworms can be distinguished from each other by naked eye examination. The colours, as worked out above, were observed by a direct artificial spotlight on living glowworms, and it must be pointed out carefully that these differences are only seen properly in living larvae. Formalin specimens retain their colour rather badly for only a few days, and alcohol and Carnoy material is useless. Worms extended under coverslips do not show the shape of the body, and specimens dropped into 70% alcohol usually become contracted, and so far as the contour of the dorsal surface is concerned, are not always reliable material.