Ctenoneura heixuanfeng, Qiu, Lu, Che, Yan-Li & Wang, Zong-Qing, 2017

Qiu, Lu, Che, Yan-Li & Wang, Zong-Qing, 2017, Contribution to the cockroach genus Ctenoneura Hanitsch, 1925 (Blattodea: Corydioidea: Corydiidae) with descriptions of seven new species from China, Zootaxa 4237 (2), pp. 265-299 : 273-275

Ctenoneura heixuanfeng sp. nov.

( Figs. 5 , 17 , 25 G –M)

Type material. Holotype: CHINA: Hainan: male ( SWU), Mt. Diaoluoshan , Lingshui County, 920 m, 18.IV.2015, Lu Qiu & Qi-Kun Bai leg. Paratypes: CHINA: Hainan: 4 males and 4 females ( SWU, 1 male and 2 females in 100% alcohol), Mt. Diaoluoshan , Lingshui County, 960 m, 15.IV.2015, Lu Qiu & Qi-kun Bai leg.; 1 male ( SWU), Mt. Diaoluoshan , Lingshui County, 940 m, 16.IV.2015, Lu Qiu & Qi-kun Bai leg. ; 6 males and 5 females ( SWU, 2 males and 2 females in 100% alcohol), Mt. Diaoluoshan , Lingshui County, 920 m, 18.V.2015, Lu Qiu & Qi-kun Bai leg. ; 2 males ( SWU), Mt. Diaoluoshan , Lingshui County, 980 m, 22.V.2014, Xin-Ran Li & Jian- Yue Qiu leg. ; 1 male ( MHBU), Mt. Diaoluoshan, Wanning City , 17–18.XI.2006, Guo-Dong Ren leg. ; 1 male ( BJMNH), Mt. Diaoluoshan , Lingshui County, 4.V.1965, Si-Kong Liu leg. ; 1 male ( SWU), Mt. Wuzhishan, Wuzhishan City , 18.V.2014, Xin-Ran Li leg. ; 1 male ( SWU), Mt. Jianfengling , Ledong County, 28.IV.2013, Yan Shi & Shun-Hua Gui leg. ; 1 male ( CAU), Mt. Jianfengling , Ledong County, 14.XII.1974, Ji-Kun Yang leg. ; 1 male ( SWU, ex SHNU), Mingfenggu, Mt. Jianfengling , Ledong County, 975 m, 25.I.2015, Xiao-Bin Song leg.

Diagnosis. This species can be easily distinguished from all other Chinese species by its peculiar dark coloration and the large process on the supra-anal plate.

Description. Male. Body length 6.5–7.0 mm; overall length including tegmen 11.0– 11.5 mm; pronotum length×width 1.9–2.3×2.6–3.0 mm.

Coloration: body blackish brown or nearly black (living individuals are black, but the dried specimens may gradually fade to brown). Head and eyes black, ocelli, antennal sockets and clypeus margin white, basal and distal portions of antennae brownish black to black, the rest yellow. Pronotum brownish black, sometimes lateral areas of anterior margin yellow narrowly. Tegmina and wings dark brown. Legs black, apex of front and median tibiae, most distal portion of hind tibiae yellow, tarsi yellow. Abdomen brownish black, subgenital plate brown, cerci black, sometimes with apex yellow ( Figs. 5 A–B ).

Head: exposed ( Fig. 17 A), triangle, vertex round, with very little pubescence, eyes wide apart, interocular space greater than the distance between antennal sockets and ocelli small, face with some pubescence, flagellum of antennae with much small yellow pubescence. Pronotum: subcircular, lateral margin round ( Fig. 17 A). Tegmina and wings: fully developed extending well beyond end of the abdomen; tegmen with a thick Sc, branches of R oblique, M with 3–5 branches, between R and M presents an intercalary vein, sometimes interrupted, CuA bifurcate, the bifurcated branches usually with more small branches ( Fig. 17 B); wing with intercalary vein present, thick, sometimes interrupted, M bifurcate, branches rebifurcate, CuA with 5–8 branches, CuP slender ( Fig. 17 C). Legs: front femur type C1, anterior margin with several spinules ( Fig. 17 D). Pulvilli absent, arolia very small, tarsal claws symmetrical, simple. Abdomen: supra-anal plate irregularly triangle shaped, median with a large, flat process, cerci unspecialized ( Figs. 5 C–D , 17 E). Subgenital plate asymmetrical, the middle bulged, distal part protruding towards right, distal portion forming a barb-shaped apex towards left, left lateral margin with two lamelliform structures while right lateral margin with one ( Figs. 5 F , 17 F–G); in dorsal view, one of the lamelliform structures of left margin extending and forming a plate, with one long stylus originates from the middle and one sclerite folds under it, near the middle, next to the right lamelliform with one sclerite which is stereoscopic, hollow and irregular ( Fig. 5 E , 17 G). Genitalia: left phallomere: large, the lvp with anterior acute, curved, median of the right with one small process, posterior with three processes, lateral ones point to the posterior, median one bends rectangularly, pointing to the right; ldp with cvp long but narrow. Right phallomere: R1M with protruding and round apex, left part wrench-like, R2 with elp straight, apex bluntly rounded, R3 narrow, with anterior blunt. Transverse sclerite (tvs): the right portion slender, bent obtusely, left portion large and flat, triangular protruded ( Fig. 17 H).

Female. Apterous ( Figs. 5 G–H ). Body length: 6.8–7.0 mm. Body shining, brown to brownish black. Head brownish black, Eyes black, reduced, wide apart, ocelli white, very small. Antennal sockets white, antennae near the base brownish yellow, the rest dark brown, or antennae total brownish black. Apex of clypeus, labrum and mandibles brownish yellow. Pronotum semicircular, apex slightly truncated, with lateral fore borders slightly yellowish. Legs brownish black with tibiae yellow, spines on the legs yellow. Supra-anal plate transverse, apex margin truncated, margin of supra-anal plate with a row of setae, cerci brownish yellow, robust, apex with a long spine; subgenital plate valvular ( Figs. 5 I –J ).

Nymph and ootheca. Nymph similar to female. Ootheca as figure 5 K–L.

Distribution. China: Hainan Island ( Fig. 4 ).

Etymology. The specific epithet is derived from the nickname of Kui Li, who is a famous character in the Chinese classic literature The Water Margin; “ heixuanfeng ” means “black whirlwind”, which refers to the peculiar black color of this species.

Remarks. This species is a relatively dominant species in Hainan Island. In the course of the trip to Hainan Island in April, 2015, we found plenty of males, females and nymphs inside large rotten wood and some small rotten tree branches at Mt. Diaoluoshan ( Figs. 25 A–C, G–I ). The females differ from the males as apterous. The apterous female and the winged male are the same species proofed by using mitochondrial COI gene (658bp). We selected one female and one male samples from the same rotten wood at Mt. Diaoluoshan, the Genetic divergence of the two samples is 0. Sequences of the two samples are deposited in GenBank under the accession numbers KY437690 (female) and KY437691 (male).

Natural history. This species was mostly found inside dead wood. In the wood, we also found some Panesthiinae cockroaches, some Haplosymploce aurantiaca Zheng, Li & Wang and many Passalidae beetles. Ctenoneura heixuanfeng , as perhaps with all species of this genus, may live in these worm holes, eating paths and cracks of the rotten wood which are made by wood-feeding insects such as Panesthiinae cockroaches and beetle larvae. We brought back some individuals for rearing and observation, and finally secured some male adults from the nymphs and some oothecae from the females ( Figs. 25 J–M).They ate the rotten wood and produced some granular faeces. They also fed on bread and apple pieces we provided.

Figures

FIGURE 4. Distribution map of Ctenoneura species in Hainan Island.

FIGURE 5. A – L. Ctenoneura heixuanfeng sp. nov.: A – B. male, paratype: A. dorsal view; B. ventral view. C – D. male supraanal plate: C. with T 9, dorsal view; D. close-up, dorsal view. E. male stylus, ventral view. F. male subgenital plate, ventral view. G – H. female, paratype: G. dorsal view; H. ventral view. I. female supra-anal plate, dorsal view; J. female subgenital plate, ventral view. K – L. ootheca: K. lateral view; L. dorsal view.

FIGURE 17. Ctenoneura heixuanfeng sp. nov., male from Hainan, China: A. pronotum with exposed head; B. tegmen; C. wing; D. front femur; E. supra-anal plate with T 9, dorsal view; F. subgenital plate, ventral view; G. subgenital plate, dorsal view; H. genitalia, ventral view.

FIGURE 25. A – I. Habitats of Ctenoneura species: A – C. habitats of Ctenoneura heixuanfeng sp. nov. and Ctenoneura delicata sp. nov. (Mt. Diaoluoshan, Hainan). D. habitats of Ctenoneura qiuae sp. nov. (Jinpin, Yunnan). E – F. male C. delicata sp. nov.: E. found inside a dead wood; F. found on a dead leave. G – I. male C. heixuanfeng sp. nov.: G – H. found crawling on the surface of the dead wood; I. found inside a hole in a piece of dead wood. J – M. C. heixuanfeng sp. nov. in lab condition: J. female C. heixuanfen g sp. nov. with its ootheca; K. close-up photo of the ootheca; L. one ootheca embedded in dead wood by the female; M. a pair of C. heixuanfeng sp. nov.. (Photo D photographed by Jian-Yue Qiu, all of the rest photographed by Lu Qiu)