Laevifacies quadrialata, Liao, Shuran, Wang, Zongqing & Che, Yanli, 2019

Liao, Shuran, Wang, Zongqing & Che, Yanli, 2019, A new genus and a new species in the subfamily Polyzosteriinae (Blattodea, Blattidae) from China, ZooKeys 852, pp. 85-100 : 90-92

Laevifacies quadrialata sp. nov.

Diagnosis.

Sexual dimorphism. Body small and black. Surface smooth and shining except last two terga with punctation. Tegmina and hind wings vestigial in male, tegmina vestigial and hind wings absent in female. Angles of T2-T7 sharp and protruded. Legs strong. Supra-anal plate short and triangular. Styli long and symmetrical.

Description.

Measurements. Male, pronotum: length × width 5.5-6.2 × 7.9-8.0 mm, overall length: 15.6-17.7 mm. Female, pronotum: length × width 7.0-7.1 × 10.5-10.7 mm, overall length: 17.0-21.0 mm.

Body black, smooth, shining. Vertex and frons black. Clypeus to part of labrum brown to dark brown, maxillary palpi and labial palpi dark brown to black. Eyes black when the specimens are fresh, fading after a long time (Figure 2D). Antennae dark brown with near middle segments and tip segments milky white (Figure 2A, B). Pronotum black, surface smooth and shining (Figure 2C). Tegmina and hind wings black, terga smooth except last two terga with punctation (Figure 2A, G). Sterna and legs dark brown to black. Cerci dark brown to black, apex yellowish brown (Figure 2A, B, G, H).

Size small to medium, female larger than male. Body oval, vertex nearly unexposed (Figure 2A, B, G, H). Ocelli present, small and round (Figure 2D). Pronotum nearly semicircular, anterior margin arc-shaped, posterior margin nearly straight, posterior angles blunt (Figure 2C). Small, vestigial tegmina and hind wings present in male, both extending to notal hind margin, only vestigial tegmina in female (Figure 2A, G); angles of T2-T7 sharp and protruded, sterna smooth and shining (Figure 2A, B, G, H). Legs strong, fore coxae with punctation; front femora Type A2 (Figure 2E); mid and hind metatarsus with a row of spines; hind metatarsus fairly long with pulvillus which occupies nearly one-quarter of its length, remainder of surface with hair, claws moderately symmetrical and unspecialized (Figure 2E, F, I, K). Male: supra-anal plate short, triangular, divided into two round lobes (Figure 3E); subgenital plate broad and short, posterior margin round; styli long and symmetrical (Figure 3D). Cerci symmetrical and strong, with indistinct segmentation, ends sharp (Figure 3E). Female: supra-anal plate with higher sclerotization (Figure 3G).

Male genitalia.

Left phallomere consisting of three parts: L1, L2, and L3. L1 with two parts L1a and L1b, L1a with membranous finger-like projection; L1b with sclerotized projection. L2 consisting of L2d and L2v, L2d strongly sclerotized in anterior part, the posterior part with finger-like and with more small spines; L2va simple and broad, L2vb sclerotized and the posterior with a spinous projection. L3 with a simple hook, elongate to the right and bifurcated (Figure 3A, B). Right phallomere consisting of R1, R2, and R3. R1 large, claw-like, right margin with a prominent spine; R2 large, curved hook-like, the base strong and gradually becoming thinner, bent to the right; R3 large and cucullate, highly sclerotized (Figure 3C).

Female genitalia.

The first valve (v.I) long, slightly broad and crescent-shaped, terminal membranous; the second valve (v.II) small, flaky and obscured by the v.I; the third valve (v.III) broader than v.I, terminal membranous; paraprocts (pp.) symmetrical and the middle concave; the middle of anterior arch (a.a.) concave; basivalvula (bsv.) trapezoidal (Figure 3G); inner posterior process of the laterosternal shelf (i.p.p.) divided in two parts, which are connected by hairy membrane; outer posterior process of the laterosternal shelf (o.p.p.) symmetrical, terminal with hairs (Figure 3F).

Material examined.

HOLOTYPE: male, CHINA, Hainan Prov., Baisha, Yinggeling Nature Reserve, 20-VIII-2010, Guo Zheng leg. PARATYPES: 1 male, same data as holotype; 1 male, Hainan Prov., Mt. Wuzhishan, 18-21-V-2014, Shunhua Gui, Xinran Li & Jianyue Qiu leg.; 1 male, Hainan Prov., Diaoluoshan, 18-IV-2015, Lu Qiu & Qikun Bai leg. (GenBank accession number: MK798103); 2 females, Hainan Prov., Lingshui, Mt. Diaoluoshan, 22-V-2014, Jianyue Qiu, Xinran Li & Shunhua Gui leg. (GenBank accession number: MK798104).

Etymology.

The species epithet comes from the Latin word quadrialata in reference to the male having four triangular vestigial wings.

Remarks.

In our study the interspecific K2P genetic divergence among L. quadrialata sp. nov. and other cockroach species ranged from 10.4 to 13.1%. But the genetic divergence value between male and female of L. quadrialata sp. nov. is only 0.9%, so we pair them based on their similar morphology combined with this COI data. Sexual dimorphism occurs in L. quadrialata sp. nov.: 1) females without hind wings, but males with vestigial hind wings (Figure 2A, 2G); 2) male with narrower body, while female with broader body (Figure 2A, B, G, H).

Geographical distribution.

China (Hainan)