Blattella punctoria Yao & Che, 2024

Yao, Wen-Wen, Li, Qian-Qian, Li, Lin-Wei, Wang, Zong-Qing & Che, Yan-Li, 2024, Discovery of four new Chinese species of Jacobsonina Hebard, 1929 and Blattella Caudell, 1903 (Blaberoidea: Blattellidae), Zootaxa 5474 (4), pp. 427-440 : 437-439

Blattella punctoria Yao & Che , sp. nov.

Fig. 5

Type material. Holotype: CHINA, male; Mengla County, Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture , Yunnan Province; 10 May 2015; Jianyue Qiu leg. Paratype: CHINA, 1 male; Mengla County, Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture , Yunnan Province; 10 May 2015; Jianyue Qiu leg.

Measurements (mm). Male: pronotum length × width 2.6–2.7 × 3.1–3.5, tegmina length 12.8–12.9, body length 12.2–12.6, overall length 15.5–15.7. Female: pronotum length × width 3.1 × 4.1, tegmina length 13.6, body length 13.3, overall length 16.3.

Description. Male. Coloration. Body brown ( Fig. 5A, B ). Ocelli pale pink. Antennae yellowish brown. Maxillary palpi with fourth and fifth brown, others yellowish brown. Pronotum yellowish brown ( Fig. 5E ). Head. Vertex slightly exposed, Interocular space slightly exceeding eye width, distinctly narrower than the width of antennal sockets. Fourth and fifth maxillary palpi about same length, and slightly shorter than the others. Pronotum. Posterior margin of pronotum slightly convex in the middle ( Fig. 5E ). Tegmina and wings. Both fully developed and extend beyond the end of abdomen ( Fig. 5A ). M and CuA of tegmina radial; M of wings simple, without branches; apical triangle small ( Fig. 5G, H ). Legs. Anteroventral margin of front femur Type B 3 ( Fig. 5I ), pretarsal claws symmetrical and unspecialized. Abdomen and genitalia. The seventh abdominal tergum specialized, with three opposite triangles, a rounded pit in each of the two upper triangles, and the lower triangle densely bristled ( Fig. 5K ). Supraanal plate symmetrical, middle posterior margin slightly concave, with one spinule on each side. Paraprocts dissimilar, both sides pincer-shaped, but the right pincer larger, with two small spines in the middle of two pincer arms ( Fig. 5 J-1), the left smaller, the lower pincer arm with many small spines, and a small spine near the upper pincer arm ( Fig. 5J ). Subgenital plate asymmetrical, middle posterior margin convex. Styli finger-shaped. Distance between the styli equal to or slightly larger than length of styli. Subgenital plate with a strong spine on each side ( Fig. 5O ). Hook of left phallomere with V-shaped incision at terminus ( Fig. 5L ). Median phallomere curved at middle, with an equally thick apex bending to left, a sheeted sclerite on the right of apex ( Fig. 5M ). Right phallomere consist of four sclerites, first sclerite slender, “Y” shaped ( Fig. 5 N-R1); the second sclerite shaped like a folded ribbon ( Fig. 5 N-R2); the third sclerite lamellar and with many spines on the sides ( Fig. 5 N-R3); the fourth sclerite plier-shaped ( Fig. 5 N-R4). Female. Like male (except for postabdomen and genitalia).

Diagnosis. Although this species is similar to Blattella radicifera (Hanitsch, 1928) , it can be distinguished from Blattella punctoria sp. nov. by the following characters: 1) The subgenital plate of B. punctoria sp. nov. with two spines, but B. radicifera with only one. 2) The accessory sclerite of right phallomere with many small spinules in B. punctoria sp. nov., whereas B. radicifera with many long spinules. 3) The left paraproct with two big thorns in B. punctoria sp. nov., while absent in B. radicifera .

Etymology. The scientific name “ punctorius ” refers to the two strong spines located on the subgenital plate.

Distribution. China (Yunnan).

Figures

FIGURE 5. Blattella punctoria Yao & Che, sp. nov. A, B, E–O male C, D female A holotype, dorsal view B holotype, ventral view C paratype, dorsal view D paratype, ventral view E pronotum, ventral view F head, dorsal view G tegmen, ventral view H hind wing, ventral view I front femur, ventral view J supra-anal plate, ventral view K seventh abdominal tergum, ventral view L left phallomere, ventral view M median phallomere, ventral view N right phallomere, ventral view O subgenital plate, ventral view Scale bars: 5 mm (A, B, C, D, G, H); 1 mm (E, F, I, J, K, M, O); 0.5 mm (L, N)