Ectobius Stephens, 1835

Anisyutkin, Leonid N., Vasilenko, Dmitry V. & Perkovsky, Evgeny E., 2024, A new amber representative of the genus Ectobius Stephens, 1835 (Blattodea: Ectobiidae) from Storebaelt (Denmark), Zootaxa 5397 (3), pp. 342-350 : 343

Genus Ectobius Stephens, 1835

Type species. Blatta lapponica Linnaeus, 1758 . By subsequent designation ( Westwood 1839).

Diagnosis. The authors generally follow diagnoses of the genus given by Rehn (1931), Bey-Bienko (1950) and Bohn (1989) with following corrections: right stylus as a rule absent, but maybe present as small apically pointed outgrowth, tarsal claws are usually sharply asymmetrical, but may be almost symmetrical, arolium is usually large, but may be about as half as length of the claw.

Note. The new species has the following characters of the genus Ectobius : M reduced and CuA basally fused with R; anterior and posterior branches of R+CuA oblique and regular (so-called pectinate venation); hypandrium elongated and asymmetrical. From the other side, such characters as presence of right stylus, nearly symmetrical tarsal claws and comparatively small arolium are not characteristic of Ectobius .

Composition. 68 extant ( Beccaloni 2014) and 7 extinct species (4 formally described): E. balticus ( Germar & Berendt, 1856) , E. inclusus Shelford, 1910 , E. kohlsi Vršanský et al., 2014 (and 3 unformalised species from Green River – Vršanský et al. 2014) and E. danekrae sp. nov.

Stratigraphic range. Eocene – Present time. The oldest representative of the genus is known from Green River Formation, lower-middle Eocene ( Vršanský et al. 2014) and two species are known from Baltic amber, Priabonian ( Shelford 1910; Weitschat and Wichard 2002).

Geographic range. Extant species are mostly distributed in the Palaearctic (Europe, Middle Asia) ( Beccaloni 2014), two species in the Republic of India, one of them, E. jarringi ( Hanitsch, 1937) , similar to E. kirgizus [sic!] Bey-Bienko, 1936 from Kyrgyz Ala-Too Range ( Bey-Bienko 1938), in high mountains of Kashmir ( Hanitsch 1937), second one ( E. indicus Bey-Bienko, 1938 ) from “N.W. Ind(ia)”, without exact data ( Bey-Bienko 1938), two species ( E. lapponicus and E. sylvestris ) widespread up to Japan and Afrotropical Regions (mostly in Eastern Africa, nearly absent in deserts and tropical forests) ( Rehn 1931; Bey-Bienko 1950; Beccaloni 2014). Several species have been introduced by humans to the northeastern United States, and southeastern Canada ( Hoebeke and Carter 2010; Clements et al. 2017).

Note. Ectobius kirgizus was originally named as “kirgizus ” ( Bey-Bienko 1936, p. 232). Later, this species was mentioned as “kirgisius” ( Bey-Bienko 1938, p. 230) and was finally redescribed, and probably mistakenly renamed, as “kirgizius” ( Bey-Bienko 1950, p. 204).