Africalolampra erubescens
Creators: name: Mbia, Donald-L'or Nyame
name: Ngon, Eric Belmond Biram à
name: Legendre, Frédéric
name: Menbohan, Samuel Foto
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Blattodea
Blaberidae
Africalolampra
Africalolampra erubescens

description: Africalolampra erubescens (Gerstaecker, 1883)
Figs 11–13; Table 4
Epilampra erubescens Gerstaecker, 1883: 54.
Epilampra erubescens – Borg 1902: 8. — Shelford 1908: 29; 1909b: 479; 1910: 14. — Rehn 1933: 451. — Morales Agacino 1954: 95. — Princis 1962: 210.
Heterolampra erubescens – Kirby 1904: 123.
Rhabdoblatta erubescens – Vanschuytbroeck 1970: 14. — Kumar, 1975: 81. — Grandcolas 1996b: 231.
Africalolampra erubescens – Anisyutkin 2016: 140.
Material examined
Holotype
CAMEROON • ♂; “Victoria; Buchholz leg.; holotype ”; ZIMG-II-27340a [pictures only].
Allotype
CAMEROON • ♀; “Victoria Buchh., Limbar. Buchh.; allotype ”; ZIMG-II-27340b [pictures only]. Note that this female allotype has labels with two different localities (Victoria in Cameroon and Limbareni in Gabon, Fig. 11; see also Rehn (1933) for localities reported by Gerstaecker).
Paratype
CAMEROON • 1 ♂; “ paratype Victoria Buchh.”; ZIMG-II-27340c [pictures only].
Additional specimens
CAMEROON • 1 ♂; “Cam. Oberth”; MNHN-EP7613 • 1 ♂; “Camerun; Sjöstedt”; NHRS, NRM-BLAT 0002106 [pictures only] • 1 ♂; “Camerun, Itoki; 31/1 91, 31.I.1891; Sjöstedt”; NHRS, NRM-BLAT 0002107 [pictures only].
GABON • 1 ♂; “Gaboun; Coll. Br. v. W.; Standinger; 21.299”; LUHM.
NIGERIA • 1 ♀; “Biafra, Escalena”; NHRS, NRM-BLAT 0002108 [pictures only].
Differential diagnosis and history
The male and female were described from specimens collected in Victoria, Cameroon, and in Lambarene (= Limbareni), Gabon (Gerstaecker 1883), and largely redescribed from specimens collected in Bitje, Cameroon (Rehn 1933), with drawings of the head and male subgenital plate. Later, Princis (1962) and Anisyutkin (2016) complemented those descriptions, including male and female genitalia as well as the shape of the tergal specialization on the 1 st tergite. Described in the genus Epilampra Burmeister, 1838, it was first transferred to the genus Rhabdoblatta (Princis 1967) and then to the genus Africalolampra (Anisyutkin 2016). We complement previous descriptions with pictures of the habitus and diagnostic characters of the male – including genitalia – and female (Figs 11–13). Note that in one of the two male specimens dissected, a slightly sclerified sclerite has been observed, ventrally to the apical part of L3; it could be homologous of the ‘trigonal’ sclerite sensu Roth (1995), but it deserves further examination to be ascertained.
As reported in Kumar’s key (1975), the shape of the tergal specialization (Fig. 11H) is the main diagnostic character for this species, especially by comparison with A. camerunensis. Note that, like A. camerunensis and contrary to Kumar’s key, A. erubescens does have serrated claws (Anisyutkin 2016; Fig. 11I).
Measurements of adults
Male (n = 2): pronotum length ×width: 5.1–5.4 ×6.7–7.2, tegmina length: 20.1–21.4, overall length ×width: 21.8–25.6 × 8.6–8.9.
Habitat
Unknown, but this species is believed to be relatively frequent in West Africa (Rehn 1933).
Distribution
This species is known from Cameroon, Gabon, Togo, Ghana, Nigeria, Central African Republic and Congo Republic (Fig. 1). Details of localities are provided in Table 4.
description: Published as part of Mbia, Donald-L'or Nyame, Ngon, Eric Belmond Biram à, Legendre, Frédéric & Menbohan, Samuel Foto, 2024, Semi-aquatic Epilamprinae cockroaches (Blattodea: Blaberidae) in Cameroon: towards a revision of continental African species of Rhabdoblatta Kirby, 1903 and Africalolampra Roth, 1995, pp. 1-57 in European Journal of Taxonomy 946 (1) on pages 19-24, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2024.946.2615, http://zenodo.org/record/13177205