Eupolyphaga robusta Qiu, Che & Wang, 2018

Han, Wei, Qiu, Lu, Zhu, Jing, Wang, Zong-Qing & Che, Yan-Li, 2022, Exploring the diversity of Eupolyphaga Chopard, 1929 (Blattodea, Corydioidea): species delimitation based on morphology and molecular analysis, ZooKeys 1120, pp. 67-94 : 67

Eupolyphaga robusta Qiu, Che & Wang, 2018

Figs 4A, C , 9

Eupolyphaga robusta Qiu, Che & Wang., 2018: 19; Qiu et al. 2019: 11 (catalogue).

Type locality.

"Sichuan Prov., Aba Prefecture, Wenchuan County; 1100 m."

New material examined.

China · 2 males, 1 female, 1 nymph, 6 oothecae; Sichuan Prov., Aba Prefecture, Maoxian County, Nanxin Town , Miancu Village ; 1518 m; 31°35.73'N, 103°44.97'E; 7 August 2019; Zong-Qing Wang, Lu Qiu, Wei Han, Huan-Yu Ren leg.; SWU-B-CC-010049 to 010052 · 1 nymph, 1 ootheca; Sichuan Prov., Aba Prefecture , Maoxian County , Nanxin Town , Miancu Village ; 1503 m; 31°35.77'N, 103°45.00'E; 2 October 2019; Lu Qiu, Hao Xu, Zhi-Teng Chen leg.; SWU-B-CC-010053 · 1 male, 1 female, 10 oothecae; Sichuan Prov., Aba Prefecture, Maoxian County, Xiaomiao Mountain ; 1650 m; 31°40.85'N, 103°51.33'E; 6 August 2019; Lu Qiu, Wei Han, Huan-Yu Ren leg.; SWU-B-CC-010054 to 010055 · 1 male, 1 female, 1 nymph, 4 oothecae; Sichuan Prov., Aba Prefecture, 013 Township road near Wenchuan County; 1473 m; 31°28.63'N, 103°35.90'E; Zong-Qing Wang, Lu Qiu, Wei Han, Huan-Yu Ren leg.; SWU-B-CC-010056 to 010057 · 2 males, 6 females, 2 oothecae; Sichuan Prov., Aba Prefecture, Wenchuan County, Miansi Town ; 29 March 2020; Jian-Yue Qiu leg.; SWU-B-CC-010058 to 010065 .

Supplementary description.

Male: Tegmina almost black, with a few white maculae, some individuals have more and larger maculae that are randomly distributed on tegmina. Abdomen orange or black, if black, the terminal two segments dimly yellowish.

Female: Body length 29.1-32.5 mm, body width 20.5-22.5 mm. Body uniformly black (Fig. 9C, D ). Antennal sockets, ocelli, ante-clypeus white. The base and end of labrum white, the middle black. Ocelli small, nearly triangular. Distance between ocelli smaller than distance between antennal sockets, interocular space wide. Pullivi and arolia absent. Hind margin of supra-anal plate protruded, medially with a large incision (Fig. 9C, D ).

Nymph: Similar to female, blackish brown.

Ootheca: Yellowish brown. Surface with shallow longitudinal lines. Serrations on the keel large and curved, compactly arranged. Respiratory canals indistinct (Fig. 9I, J ).

Natural history.

This species is distributed in the Minjiang River basin of Sichuan, which is a typical arid river valley. It can be found in multiple habitats, such as in soil, under abandoned bricks or rocks, or inside dead wood.

Remarks.

This species was originally described based on a single male specimen collected in 1983. The holotype is dark brown, the last two segments of abdomen are yellowish white, and its vertex has a small yellowish spot. During two expeditions in Minjiang River basin in 2019, we obtained numerous specimens of this species. We found that the fresh samples of the males are black rather than dark brown. The maculae on tegmina show some variation, most male individuals are black, with sparse whitish maculae, but there are individuals with larger maculae. We also found that most of the newly collected individuals differ from the holotype by the coloration of abdomen. Most males have a uniformly orange abdomen, while the specimens from Miansi Town have the same abdominal color as the holotype, i.e., the apical two segments of abdomen are yellowish, the remaining portions are black. Among the newly collected male specimens, no individual was found with a yellow spot at vertex, which indicates the yellow spot at vertex in the holotype may be a variation or aberration.

We sequenced the COI marker from eight samples and found that the genetic distances between samples from Miansi Town (male with black abdomen) and samples from other localities (males with orange abdomens) are somewhat distant (3.29-3.57%), while the genetic distances between samples with orange abdomen are much lower (0.15-0.47%) (Suppl. material 1).

Figures

Figure 4. A-D Characteristics and habitats of Eupolyphaga species from Minjiang River Basin A head of female E. robusta, ventral view B head of female Eupolyphaga udenostyla Qiu, sp. nov., ventral view C supra-anal plate of female E. robusta, dorsal view D supra-anal plate of female E. udenostyla Qiu, sp. nov., dorsal view E ootheca of E. udenostyla Qiu, sp. nov., lateral view F same, close-up view to show the serration G a living male E. udenostyla Qiu, sp. nov. H a living female E. udenostyla Qiu, sp. nov. I, J habitats of E. udenostyla Qiu, sp. nov., in Keku Township, Wenchuan County, Sichuan Province. Scale bars: 0.2 cm (E); 0.1 cm (F). Photographs G-J by LQ. White arrows indicate the ocelli.

Figure 9. Eupolyphaga robusta from Minjiang River basin A male, dorsal view B male, ventral view C female, dorsal view D female, ventral view E-G habitats of Eupolyphaga robusta, Maoxian County, Sichuan Province H the variation of the abdominal coloration in males I ootheca, lateral view J serrations of ootheca. Scale bars: 1.0 cm (A-D); 0.1 cm (I); 0.01 cm (J). Photographs E-H by LQ.