Rhabdoblatta lyncea ( 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 : 42-45

Rhabdoblatta lyncea ( Gerstaecker, 1883)

Figs 28–30 ; Table 10

Epilampra lyncea Gerstaecker, 1883: 53 .

Epilampra electa Borg, 1902: 10 .

Epilampra infinita Borg, 1902: 11 .

Epilampra sjostedti Borg, 1902: 12 .

Heterolampra lyncea – Kirby 1904: 122.

Epilampra infinita – Shelford 1909b: 479; 1910: 14. — Anonymous 1910: 579. — Sjöstedt 1933: 7.

Epilampra electa – Shelford 1910: 14. — Sjöstedt 1933: 7.

Epilampra sjostedti – Shelford 1910: 14. — Sjöstedt 1933: 7. — Chopard 1945: 163. — Princis 1947: 59.

Epilampra lyncea – Shelford 1910: 14. — Rehn 1933: 408, 451. — Princis 1962: 209.

Rhabdoblatta lyncea – Vanschuytbroeck 1970: 14. — Kumar 1975: 80.

Material examined

Paratype

CAMEROON • 1 juv.; “Mungo Buchh.; Epilampra lyncea Gerst. , juv.; Zool. Mus. Greifswald II 27341”: ZIMG .

Additional specimens

CAMEROON • 1 ♂, with genitalia slide; “1969; 1494, 18 512, 237; Nat. Kabinet Stuttgart, Coll. Br. v. W.”; LUHM • 1 ♀; “ Camerun ; Sjöstedt; 400 57; type of Epilampra electa Borg ; Epilampra lyncea Gerst. ♀, det. K. Princis 1957”; NHRS, NRM-BLAT-0002103 [pictures only] • 1 ♀; “ Camerun ; Sjöstedt; 396 57; type of Epilampra infinita Borg ; Epilampra lyncea Gerst. ♀, det. K. Princis 1957”; NHRS, NRM-BLAT-0002104 [pictures only] • 1 ♂; “ Camerun , N’dian; 23/5 91, 23.V.1891; Sjöstedt; 397 57; type of Epilampra sjöstedti Borg ; Epilampra lyncea Gerst. ♂, det. K. Princis 1957”; NHRS, NRM-BLAT-0002105 [pictures only] .

Diagnosis and history

This species was described from a female specimen, with a juvenile as a paratype ( Gerstaecker 1883). At ZIMG, only the paratype remains ( Fig. 28 ) and the female holotype is most likely lost, as previously suggested ( Rehn 1933). This species has three junior synonyms, described and illustrated by Borg (1902), synonymized by Princis (1962), and whose types are deposited at NHRS ( Fig. 29 ). Kumar (1975) included this species in his key to species of Rhabdoblatta found in West Africa and the Congo Basin; the male specialization on the 4 th adbominal tergite is a diagnostic character (Kumar erroneously mentioned the 5 th tergite in his key; see Fig. 30 and Princis 1962). Genitalia of the male specimen from LUHM were already prepared; they are pictured here ( Fig. 30G ) for the record although hardly visible.

Measurements of adults

Male (n = 1): pronotum length ×width: 4.9 ×6.7, tegmina length: 21.1 [specimen examined, too damaged for other measurements].

Habitat

Unknown.

Distribution

This species is known from Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Nigeria and São Tomé and Príncipe ( Fig. 1 ). Details of localities are provided in Table 10 .

Figures

Fig. 28. Rhabdoblatta lyncea (Gerstaecker, 1883), paratype, juvenile (ZIMG-II 27341). Habitus in dorsal and ventral views, with labels. Photographed by Lara Lopardo (ZIMG). Scale bar = 5 mm.

Fig. 29. Habitus and labels of the holotypes of the synonyms. A. Epilampra electa Borg, 1902, holotype, ♀ (NRM-BLAT 0002103). B. Epilampra infinita Borg, 1902, holotype, ♀ (NRM-BLAT 0002104). C. Epilampra sjoestedti Borg, 1902, holotype, ♂ (NRM-BLAT 0002105). Photographed by Gunvi Lindberg (©2023 Naturhistoriska riksmuseet). Original photos cropped, light levels and contrast adjusted. Made available by the Swedish Museum of Natural History under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License, CC-BY 4.0. Scale bars = 5 mm.

Fig. 30. Rhabdoblatta lyncea (Gerstaecker, 1883), male specimen (LUHM). A. Habitus in dorsal and ventral views. B–C. Abdomen and close-up on tergal gland (C) in dorsal views. D. Abdomen in ventral view. E. Pronotum. F. Head and front femorae. G. ‘Cristallized’ slide of male genitalia. Scale bars: A = 5 mm; B, D–F = 1 mm. C, G not to scale.

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.