Diploptera bicolor Hanitsch, 1925

Li, Xinran & Wang, Zongqing, 2015, A taxonomic study of the beetle cockroaches (Diploptera Saussure) from China, with notes on the genus and species worldwide (Blattodea: Blaberidae: Diplopterinae), Zootaxa 4018 (1), pp. 35-56 : 53

Diploptera bicolor Hanitsch, 1925

( Figs. 13 , 69–71 )

Diploptera bicolor Hanitsch, 1925: 102 , figs. 15, 16, locality Borneo.

Diploptera pulchra Anisyutkin, 2007: 173 , figs. 1–9, locality Borneo. Syn. n.

Female unknown.

Taxonomic notes. That Princis (1950: 163) identified two females from Sumatra as D. bicolor , proves to be in error. One specimen (MZLU) was examined ( Figs. 76–79 ), labeled “Sumatra, Deli, Tebing, Tinggi, 1939, coll. Kai Jung”. He emphasized too much on the character that “vertex with 3 faint black longitudinal lines”, which is of less value in taxonomy, but lost attention to the pronotum of D. bicolor , which with markings but without sharp posterolateral angles, whilst that of Princis’ specimen is unicolor and the posterolateral angles are sharp enough.

Anisyutkin (2007) recently described D. pulchra as a new species, but we find it to be a junior synonym of D. bicolor . Comparing the holotype of D. bicolor with the original descriptions of D. bicolor and D. pulchra , we found that these two species correspond completely except for a slight difference in individual sizes. Anisyutkin may not have examined the type specimen and was misled by Hanitsch’s (1925) illustration, which was drawn by Mr. V. Knight instead of Hanitsch himself, and on which the markings of the pronotum were not correctly represented. Nevertheless, Anisyutkin’s description and illustrations are important contributions to our knowledge about Diploptera .

As for Hanitsch’s (1925) dimorphism hypothesis, see our “Taxonomic notes” in the entry for D. maculata .

Type material examined. HOLOTYPE ( OUM) fixed by monotypy, male, “ Pah Trap , Kalabit , Sarawak, x.1922 – i.1923, Coll. by Dr. E. Mjöberg ”.

Figures

FIGURES 2 – 16. Pronota of Diploptera spp. & subspp. presented in monochrome, i. e., white indicates unicolor or lighter coloration, whilst black is for darker portion. 2 – 3 D. punctata; 2 male; 3 female; 4 – 5 D. minor; 4 female; 5 male; 6 D. erythrocephala, male; 7 – 8 D. parva; 7 male; 8 female; 9 D. naevus sp. n., male; 10 D. nigrescens nigrescens, male; 11 – 12 D. nigrescens guani subsp. n.; 11 male; 12 female; 13 D. bicolor, male; 14 D. maculata, female; 15 – 16 D. elliptica sp. n.; 15 male; 16 female. (Dashed lines indicate depression. Scale bar = 2 mm)

FIGURES 66 – 71. Diploptera spp. distributed outside China, types and labels. Part 2 / 2. 66 – 68 D. maculata Hanitsch, 1925, female HOLOTYPE (OUM) from Borneo, photographed by Katherine Child and provided by Amoret Spooner, copyright © Oxford University Museum of Natural History; 69 – 71 D. bicolor Hanitsch, 1925, male HOLOTYPE (OUM) from Borneo, photographed by Katherine Child and provided by Amoret Spooner, copyright © Oxford University Museum of Natural History. (Scale bars = 5 mm.)

FIGURES 76 – 79. The specimen (MZLU) identified incorrectly as D. bicolor Hanitsch, 1925 by Princis (1950: 163). 76 dorsal view; 77 ventral view; 78 label; 79 vertex, with arrows indicating “ faint black longitudinal lines ”. (Photographed by Ellen Sandström, photo courtesy of the Biological Museum, Lund University, Sweden. Scale bars = 5 mm.)