Polyphaga Brullé, 1835

Qiu, Lu, Che, Yan-Li & Wang, Zong-Qing, 2018, Contributions to some Corydiinae genera (Blattodea: Corydioidea: Corydiidae) from China, Journal of Natural History (J. Nat. Hist.) 52 (21 - 22), pp. 1433-1461 : 1437-1439

Genus Polyphaga Brullé, 1835

Polyphaga Brullé, 1835: 57 ; Saussure 1864: 220; Kirby 1904: 171; Chopard 1929: 242; Bey- Bienko 1950: 287; Princis 1962a: 47; Feng, Guo and Woo 1997: 163.

Heterogamia Burmeister, 1838: 488 ; Fischer von Waldheim 1846: 72; Saussure 1864: 222; Brunner von Wattenwyl 1865: 350; Saussure 1893: 302.

Type species

Blatta aegyptiaca Linnaeus, 1758

Generic description

Male. large, thick, body length about 20.0–22.0 mm, including tegmen 30.0–35.0 mm ( Chopard 1929). Body brown to brownish black, generally unicoloured except the anterior margin of pronotum and CuP in cfr. Head dark brown except anteclypeus, antennae dark brown, eyes and ocelli large, interocullar space wide, narrower than the distance between antennal sockets. Pronotum setose, almost flat, dark brown to brownish black, always with a white anterior margin ( Figure 3a ). Tegmina dark brown to brownish black, unicoloured, CuP in cfr always distinctly whitish ( Figure 1g ), in ventral view without a distinct Sc swelling ( Figure 3c ). Wings brownish, hyaline. Legs dark brown, long, front femur type C 1, pulvilli absent, arolia present. Abdomen dark brown, supra-anal plate transverse. Cerci long, spheroid sense organs present. Subgenital plate slightly plump, distal margin weakly waved, densely pubescent, styli stout.

Female. large, thickened, apterous, body oval, length of body about 27.0–40.0 mm, width of body 20.5–29.0 mm ( Chopard 1929). Generally unicoloured, dark brown to brownish black (except Polyphaga plancyi Bolívar which is characterised by yellowish markings). Head large, eyes small, wide apart, ocelli reduced to two small spots. Pronotum with a narrow anterior white margin (except P. plancyi ). The margins of pronotum, mesonotum and metanotum thoroughly pubescent (except P. plancyi which is sparsely covered short setae). Legs dark brown, front femur type C 1, pulvilli and arolia absent. Supra-anal plate transverse, hind lateral corners round, hind margin medially emarginated, cerci short, spinous; subgenital plate with apex round, bulging.

Distribution

Mediterranean region, Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia, Afghanistan, China, India, Iran, Russia, Turkestan, Uzbekistan.

Natural history

Species of the genus are sometimes found inside or near human settlements as domiciliary cockroaches ( Chopard 1929; Feng et al. 1997); some are also kept as pets (e.g. P. saussurei (Dohrn)) ; a few are used as raw materials in traditional Chinese medicine (e.g. P. obscura and P. plancyi ( Woo 1987; Huang et al. 1996)).

Remarks

Assigned to the tribe Polyphagini for the apterous female. Members of this genus superficially resemble each other, but the female of P. plancyi is characterised by yellowish markings.

Figures

Figure 1. Polyphaga spp. from China. (a–d) P. obscura, from Xinjiang, China: (a) female adult, dorsal; (b) female adult, ventral; (c) female nymph, dorsal; (d) female nymph, ventral. (e–h) P. plancyi, from Hebei (female) and Shandong (male), China: (e) female, dorsal; (f) female, ventral; (g) male, dorsal; (h) male, ventral. Scale bar = 1 cm.

Figure 3. Features of Corydiinae species. Polyphaga plancyi: (a) male pronotum; (b) male head; (c) male Sc swelling (absent); (j) setae on the margin of pronotum (male); (n) setae on the margin of pronotum (female);(p) tarsal claw (female); (r) tarsal claw (male).Polyphaga obscura: (m) pubescence on the margin of pronotum (female); (q) tarsal claw (female). Ergaula nepalensis: (d) male pronotum; (e) male head; (f) male Sc swelling; (k) pubescence on the margin of pronotum (male); (o) glands on the first two pleural membranes (male); (s) tarsal claw (male). Ctenoblatta impubis: (g) male pronotum; (h) male head; (i) male Sc swelling; (l) pubescence on the margin of pronotum (male);(t) tarsal claw (male).Scale bars:a, d, g = 3 mm; b–c, e–f, h–i = 2 mm; j–n, r–t = 0.3 mm; o = 1 mm; p–q = 0.5 mm.