Focusing on Keroplatus nipponicus Okada, 1938 (Diptera: Mycetophiloidea: Keroplatidae) and Its Adults

Of the 27 Keroplatus species described worldwide only fi ve are known to possess luminescent larvae. The role of their blue lights, the biochemistry of the reaction and its control as well as the phylogeny of keroplatids are all aspects that are still largely incompletely understood, a consequence no doubt of the rarity of those species with luminescent larvae. Some larvae of the luminescent fungus gnat Keroplatus nipponicus were collected on the Japanese Pacific island Hachijojima and at a length of around 17 mm three turned into pupae. Physical damage to the cocoon during its construction was not repaired by the larva. At an environmental temperature of around 28 °C two adults eclosed after a pupal phase that lasted only 3 days. The male was slightly shorter and slimmer than the female (7.06 versus 7.36 mm), had larger eyes and signifi cantly more plumose antennae. It was also noticeably more active than the female that it was attempting to copulate with. Both male and female died three days after eclosion, but the female laid 306 black spherical eggs of a diameter of 0.4 mm on her last day.