Poroblattini Roth, 1971

Anisyutkin, Leonid N., 2020, New and little known Epilamprinae (Dictyoptera: Blaberidae) from the collections of the Muséum d’histoire naturelle de Genève and the Zoological Institute of Saint Petersburg. Part 4, Revue suisse de Zoologie 127 (1), pp. 105-117 : 111-113

Tribe Poroblattini Roth, 1971

Notolamprini Roth, 1971 , syn. nov.

Colapteroblattini Roth & Gutiérrez, 1998 , syn. nov.

Type genus: Colapteroblatta Hebard, 1919 .

Remarks: The tribes Poroblattini and Notolamprini were described in the same paper ( Roth, 1971). The first tribe originally included the genera Poroblatta Hebard, 1919 , Nauclidas Rehn, 1930 , Galiblatta Hebard, 1927 , Dryadoblatta Rehn, 1930 , and Colapteroblatta , the second tribe was monotypic ( Roth, 1971). Later, the genera Poroblatta , Acroporoblatta and Nauclidas were synonymized under Colapteroblatta and the name Poroblattini was replaced with Colapteroblattini : “Because of synonymy this tribe should be called Colapteroblattini ” ( Roth & Gutiérrez, 1998: 171). This replacement is incorrect because of article 40.1. of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature ( International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, 1999): “Validity of family-group names not affected. When the name of a type genus of a nominal family-group taxon is considered to be a junior synonym of the name of another nominal genus, the family-group name is not to be replaced on that account alone”. Thus I consider Colapteroblattini syn. nov. as a junior synonym of Poroblattini .

The tribe Poroblattini is based on characters of the male genitalia: “In this tribe the L2d (i.e. apical part of sclerite L2D in present paper) is elongated, curved, sclerotized, tapers slightly toward the tip, and is separated from L2vm (i.e. basal part of sclerite L2D in present paper). Apparently there is no distinct prepuce (i.e. membrane with bristles or teeth or apical sclerite of apical part of sclerite L2D). The R2 has a subapical incision and the shapes of L1 (i.e. right phallomere in present paper) are all basically similar” ( Roth, 1971: 181).

Roth did not give a clear definition of the tribe Notolamprini . It was noted “that the 3 species of Notolampra have a markedly convex dorsal surface” ( Roth, 1971: 181) and some morphological differences and peculiarities in male genitalia structures: “In N. gibba ... the L2d is much more robust than the L2d of members of Poroblattini , and does not taper toward the apex. R1 (i.e. sclerite L 3 in present paper) is long and slender and has a subapical incision; L1 differs in shape from L1 of Poroblattini ” ( Roth, 1971: 181).

It must be noted that Roth examined the male genitalia structures mounted on slides ( Roth, 1971; Roth & Gutiérrez, 1998). This made it difficult to study fine morphological structures.

In my opinion, Colapteroblatta compsa Hebard, 1919 (the type species of Colapteroblatta ) and Notolampra gibba ( Thunberg, 1826) (the type species of Notolampra ) have structurally very similar male genitalia. The differences mentioned by Roth (1971) are not substantial.

The type species of Colapteroblatta and Notolampra have a number of characters in common:

1. Structure of tarsi: metatarsus distinctly shorter than other tarsal segments combined, with large euplantula; spines absent.

2. Hypandrium ( Fig. 41 cf. Anisyutkin, 2018a: fig. 90) asymmetrical, with membranous area along right side; styli asymmetrical and cylindrical.

3. Structure of right phallomere ( Figs 42-43 cf. Anisyutkin, 2018a: figs 91-92): caudal part of sclerite R1T distinctly enlarged; “upper triangular lobe” present; R3 short and robust, widened caudally.

4. Apical part of sclerite L2D developed as flattened, elongated and plate-like sclerite; bristles absent ( Figs 44-46 cf. Anisyutkin, 2018a: figs 93-95).

Taking into account the aforesaid, I consider the tribe Notolamprini syn. nov. as a junior synonym of Poroblattini .

The features listed above are probably characteristic of the tribe Poroblattini , but I prefer to postpone proposing a formal revised diagnosis of this tribe due to insufficient knowledge of other epilamprine taxa.

Figures

Figs 36-48. Notolampra gibba (Thunberg, 1826), male. (36) Facial part of head. (37) Head, pronotum and basal part of left tegmen, dorsal view. (38) Abdominal tergites VIII-IX, dorsal view. (39)Abdominal apex, dorsal view. (40) Paraprocts and adjacent structures, ventral view. (41) Hypandrium, ventral view. (42-43) Right phallomere, dorsal (42) and ventral (43) view. (44) Sclerite L2D, dorsal view. (45-46) Apical part of sclerite L2D, ventral (45) and dorsal (46) view. (47) Sclerite L3. (48) Apex of sclerite L3. Dotted areas show dark colour (37) or membranous parts (38-48). Abbreviations: ap.scl., b.L2D, b.L3, c.p.R1T, R2, R3, R4, R5, tr.l. - see chapter “abbreviation used in figures”, for details see text. Scale bars 1 mm: a (36), b (37), c (38-39), d (40), e (41), f (42-43), g (44), h (45-46), i (47-48).