Africalolampra erubescens ( Gerstaecker, 1883 )

Mbia, Donald-L’or Nyame, Ngon, Eric Belmond Biram à, Legendre, Frédéric & Menbohan, Samuel Foto, 2024, Semi-aquatic Epilamprinae cockroaches (Blattodea: Blaberidae) in Cameroon: towards a revision of continental African species of Rhabdoblatta Kirby, 1903 and Africalolampra Roth, 1995, European Journal of Taxonomy 946 (1), pp. 1-57 : 19-24

Africalolampra erubescens ( Gerstaecker, 1883)

Figs 11–13 ; Table 4

Epilampra erubescens Gerstaecker, 1883: 54 .

Epilampra erubescens – Borg 1902: 8. — Shelford 1908: 29; 1909b: 479; 1910: 14. — Rehn 1933: 451. — Morales Agacino 1954: 95. — Princis 1962: 210.

Heterolampra erubescens – Kirby 1904: 123.

Rhabdoblatta erubescens – Vanschuytbroeck 1970: 14. — Kumar, 1975: 81. — Grandcolas 1996b: 231.

Africalolampra erubescens – Anisyutkin 2016: 140 .

Material examined

Holotype

CAMEROON • ♂; “Victoria; Buchholz leg.; holotype ”; ZIMG-II-27340a [pictures only].

Allotype

CAMEROON • ♀; “Victoria Buchh., Limbar. Buchh.; allotype ”; ZIMG-II-27340b [pictures only]. Note that this female allotype has labels with two different localities (Victoria in Cameroon and Limbareni in Gabon, Fig. 11 ; see also Rehn (1933) for localities reported by Gerstaecker).

Paratype

CAMEROON • 1 ♂; “ paratype Victoria Buchh.”; ZIMG-II-27340c [pictures only] .

Additional specimens

CAMEROON • 1 ♂; “Cam. Oberth”; MNHN-EP7613 • 1 ♂; “Camerun; Sjöstedt”; NHRS, NRM-BLAT 0002106 [pictures only] • 1 ♂; “Camerun, Itoki; 31/1 91, 31.I.1891; Sjöstedt”; NHRS, NRM-BLAT 0002107 [pictures only] .

GABON • 1 ♂; “Gaboun; Coll. Br. v. W.; Standinger; 21.299”; LUHM .

NIGERIA • 1 ♀; “Biafra, Escalena”; NHRS, NRM-BLAT 0002108 [pictures only] .

Differential diagnosis and history

The male and female were described from specimens collected in Victoria, Cameroon, and in Lambarene (= Limbareni), Gabon ( Gerstaecker 1883), and largely redescribed from specimens collected in Bitje, Cameroon ( Rehn 1933), with drawings of the head and male subgenital plate. Later, Princis (1962) and Anisyutkin (2016) complemented those descriptions, including male and female genitalia as well as the shape of the tergal specialization on the 1 st tergite. Described in the genus Epilampra Burmeister, 1838 , it was first transferred to the genus Rhabdoblatta ( Princis 1967) and then to the genus Africalolampra ( Anisyutkin 2016) . We complement previous descriptions with pictures of the habitus and diagnostic characters of the male – including genitalia – and female ( Figs 11–13 ). Note that in one of the two male specimens dissected, a slightly sclerified sclerite has been observed, ventrally to the apical part of L3; it could be homologous of the ‘trigonal’ sclerite sensu Roth (1995), but it deserves further examination to be ascertained.

As reported in Kumar’s key (1975), the shape of the tergal specialization ( Fig. 11H ) is the main diagnostic character for this species, especially by comparison with A. camerunensis . Note that, like A. camerunensis and contrary to Kumar’s key, A. erubescens does have serrated claws ( Anisyutkin 2016; Fig. 11I ).

Measurements of adults

Male (n = 2): pronotum length ×width: 5.1–5.4 ×6.7–7.2, tegmina length: 20.1–21.4, overall length ×width: 21.8–25.6 × 8.6–8.9.

Habitat

Unknown, but this species is believed to be relatively frequent in West Africa ( Rehn 1933).

Distribution

This species is known from Cameroon, Gabon, Togo, Ghana, Nigeria, Central African Republic and Congo Republic ( Fig. 1 ). Details of localities are provided in Table 4 .

Figures

Fig. 11. Africalolampra erubescens (Gerstaecker, 1883). A–F. Holotype, ♂ (ZIMG-II-27340a). A. Habitus in dorsal and ventral views. B. Labels. C. Head. D. Front femora (type B2) with the most distal spine distinctly serrated. E. Subgenital plate. F. Hind leg, ventral view. G–I. Male specimen (MNHN-EP7613). G. Supra-anal plate. H. Tergal gland. I. Tarsi and claws of hindleg. Photographs A–F by Lara Lopardo (ZIMG). Scale bars: A = 5 mm; C–I = 1 mm.

Fig. 12. Africalolampra erubescens (Gerstaecker, 1883), male genitalia (specimen from LUHM). The rod of L2d is broken, and probably R3 as well (compare with Anisyutkin 2016: fig. 9). Abbreviations: see Material and methods. Scale bars = 0.5 mm.

Fig. 13. Africalolampra erubescens (Gerstaecker, 1883), allotype, ♀ (ZIMG-II-27340b). A. Habitus in dorsal and ventral views. B. Head. C. Labels. D. Subgenital plate. Photographed by Lara Lopardo (ZIMG). Scale bars: A = 5 mm; B–D = 1 mm.

Fig. 1. Distribution of African species of Rhabdoblatta Kirby, 1903 and Africalolampra Roth, 1995, including the new species described (indicated with a star). ‘?’ is used when countries with no exact locality were provided in the literature. Details of localities are provided in the main text.