Balta barbellata Che and Chen

Che, Yanli, Chen, Li & Wang, Zongqing, 2010, Six new species of the genus Balta Tepper (Blattaria, Pseudophyllodrominae) from China, Zootaxa 2609, pp. 55-67 : 60

Balta barbellata Che and Chen sp. nov.

Figures 24–34

Description. Pronotum length×width 3× 4.5 mm; tegmen 13.5 mm; overall length including tegmen 15.5 mm. Body brown. Vertex and face dark brown. Pronotum brown with dark brown macula, broad lateral areas semihyaline ( Fig. 25 ). Venter and legs brown suffused with dark brown. Vertex with interocular space slightly less than distance between antennal sockets ( Fig. 24 ). Third and fourth maxillary palpomeres about same length, both distinctly longer than the fifth. Pronotum with two small spots on disk. Tegmen with discoidal veins longitudinal and slightly oblique. Hind wing with costal veins clubbed and thickened; medial vein simple, without branches; cubital vein with 5 complete branches and some branches bifurcated at apex, triangular apical area reduced and small ( Fig. 26 ). Front femur of Type B3 ( Fig. 27 ), tarsal claws strongly asymmetrical and unspecialized ( Fig. 28 ). Male genitalia with supra-anal plate in ventral view short and shallowly triangular, with mediodistal region rounded-convex, middle of hind margin curved ( Fig. 29 ); right and left paraprocts nearly symmetrical, plate simple with apices rounded ( Fig. 29 ). Subgenital plate in dorsal view nearly oval, lateral margins strongly convex, hind margin deeply and concavely excavated with one large, projecting, hyaline medial lobe; styli small, fingerlike, arising on each side of excavation and directed medially ( Fig. 30 ). Left phallomere enlarged, sclerotized plates irregular ( Fig. 31 ). Median phallomere long, sticklike and slightly curved with base blunt and apex acuminate ( Fig. 32 ); one associated median phallomere appendage present and below median phallomere, which is bifurcated near middle and with base densely covered with short setae; the branch beneath arched and apex densely scattered with short setae, the other below bent downward in middle and apex also densely scattered with short setae ( Fig. 33 ). Hook-like phallomere with sclerotized portion very small, slender and with V-shaped incision ( Fig. 34 ).

Material examined. Holotype m?, China, Hainan, Xinglong, 29 June 1983, Ke Minghui coll. Paratype: 1 m?, China, Hainan, Jianfeng Mountain, 18 November 1982, Huang Guifang coll.

Remarks. Although this species has a type B3 front femur, we place it in Balta on the basis of the apical triangle of hind wing, as well as wing venation, tarsal claws, and subgenital plate. This species is similar to B. hwangorum Bey-Bienko, 1958 , the type of which was collected in Yunnan, China. Balta barbellata is distinguished from B. hwangorum by the following characteristics: 1) front femur type B3 (type C 2 in B. hwangorum ); 2) hind margin of subgenital plate with clear projection in which the styli are located, middle of hind margin with strongly V-shaped incision (hind margin without clear-cut projection, styli located in shallow concavities, middle of hind margin without incision in B. hwangorum ).

Etymology. The specific name “ barbellatus,” derived from Latin, refers to the presence of short setae on the base, apex and middle of the arched appendage of the median phallomere.

Figures

FIGURES 24 – 34. Balta barbellata Che and Chen sp. nov. 24. Head. 25. Pronotum. 26. Hind wing. 27. Front femur. 28. Tarsal claws and arolium. 29. Supraanal plate and paraprocts, ventral view. 30. Subgenital plate, dorsal view. 31. Left phallomere. 32. Median phallomere. 33. Appendage of median phallomere. 34. Right phallomere.