Morphna indica Anisyutkin, sp.nov.
Creators: name: Anisyutkin, Leonid N.
name: Yushkova, Olga V.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Blattodea
Blaberidae
Morphna
Morphna indica

description: Morphna indica Anisyutkin, sp.nov.
(Figs. 8 A–D, 9C–P)
Material. Holotype—male, SOUTH INDIA, state Kerala, Cardamon Hills, between Pambanar and Peermade, 950 m, sieving in the forest near river, 9 November 1972, coll. C. Besuchet / I. Löbl (18) (MHNG); paratypes (male and female) (MHNG).
Etymology. The species is named after the country of origin.
Description. Male (holotype). General colour yellowish, partly blackish (Fig. 8 A, C); facial part of head contrastingly coloured (Fig. 8 A); pronotum (Fig. 8 C), tegmina and abdomen yellow with numerous small black dots forming larger dark spots; legs yellow, coxae and femora with sparse brown dots, spines and apical parts of tarsi darkened, dark brown. Surfaces smooth and lustrous; antennae with lustrous proximal 17–18 segments, the rest of segments dull; head, pronotum and tegmina somewhat rugose, moderately punctuated; facial part of head with weak transverse wrinkles. Head widely rounded at vertex, longer than wide, epicranial sutures present (Figs. 8 A, 9C); ocellar spots distinct; distance between eyes 1.1 times eye length; distance between antennal sockets about twice of the scape length (about 1.5 mm); approximate length ratio of 3rd–5th segments of maxillary palps 1.0: 1.0: 1.2. Pronotum transverse, widely rounded along anterolateral margins, caudal margin slightly angulate (Figs. 8 C, 9D). Scutellum triangular, small. Tegmina subquadrate (Fig. 9 D), only reaching 2nd abdominal tergite; venation subobsolete; Sc thickened (well visible on ventral side of tegmen). Wings vestigial, completely hidden under tegmina. Anterior margin of fore femur armed as in the type B, with 5 spines, including 2 apical ones. Tibiae distinctly thickened distally. Structure of hind tarsi (Fig. 9 E): metatarsus a little shorter than other segments combined, with large euplantula along lower margin; tarsal spines absent; euplantulae of 1st–4th tarsal segments with distinct spinules (Fig. 9 E, spi.); claws symmetrical, simple; arolium longer than half of claw length (Fig. 9 E). Abdomen without visible glandular specializations; posterolateral angles of tergites slightly attenuate caudally; spiracle-bearing outgrowths of tergite VIII with sharp and attenuate posterolateral angles (Fig. 9 F, p.a.). Anal plate (tergite X) widely rounded, with weak and wide median incision on caudal margin (Fig. 9 F). Cerci fusiform, very weakly depressed, with distinct segments (Fig. 9 F). Paraprocts of the blaberid-type, as in Fig. 9 G. Hypandrium nearly symmetrical, its caudal margin rounded and projected caudally, with a distinct median incision (Fig. 9 H); styli short and fusiform (Fig. 9 H).
Male genitalia (Fig. 9 I–P). Right phallomere (R+N) with caudal part of sclerite R1T subrectangular in shape (Fig. 9 I, J, c.p.R1T); densely covered with bristles; R2 curved; R3 elongated, widened caudally; R4 large, platelike; R 5 in shape of elongated plate, fused with sclerite R3. Sclerite L2D (L1) divided into basal and apical parts (Fig. 9 K); basal part rod-like, distinctly widened cranially, with "curved upward subsclerite" (Fig. 9 L, u.s.) and lamellate outgrowth (Fig. 9 L, l.o.) at caudal end; apical part in shape of crescentic sclerite and small "dorsal outgrows" (Fig. 9 K, L, d.o.); bristles absent. Sclerite L3 (L2d) with basal subsclerite (Fig. 9 M, b.L3) and "folded structure" (Fig. 9 M, f.s.) with bristles; groove hge absent. Sclerite L4U (L3d) in shape of elongated triangle, well sclerotized.
Variations. The male paratype is similar with the holotype, but slightly smaller in its size.
Female (Fig. 8 B, D). Similar to the male; distance between antennal sockets 2.3 times of the scape length (about 1.4 mm); approximate length ratio of 3rd–5th segments of maxillary palps 1.0: 1.0: 1.1; anal plate (tergite X) and genital plate similar to that of M. decolyi, but genital plate is notched in the middle of caudal margin. Measurements (mm). Head length: male 5.6–6.0 (6.0), female 6.4; head width: male 5.2–5.5 (5.5), female 5.4; pronotum length: male 7.9–8.8 (8.8), female 8.7; pronotum width: male 13.4–14.5 (14.5), female 14.2; tegmen length: male 9.2 (9.2), female 8.6; tegmen width: male 9.0 (9.0), female 9.0. Measurements in parenthesis are those of holotype.
Comparison. The new species is closely related to M. decolyi and M. srilankensis sp.nov. in having the shortened subquadrate tegmina. M. indica sp.nov. can be distinguished from M. decolyi by the lighter body coloration (compare Fig. 8 A–D and Fig. 1 H–J in Anisyutkin 2014), the presence of attenuate posterolateral angles on the tergites VIII (compare Fig. 9 F and Figs. 6 G, 7F in Anisyutkin 2014), spinules on the tarsal euplantulae (compare Fig. 9 E and Fig. 6 E, D in Anisyutkin 2014) and the structure of the apical part of sclerite L2D (compare Fig. 9 B and Fig. 9 K, L). From M. srilankensis sp.nov., the new species differs in the larger size and the structure of the apical part of sclerite L2D (compare Fig. 9 K, L and Fig. 10 G, F).
From all other congeners, M. indica sp.nov. can be readily separated by the presence of shortened, subquadrate tegmina with an obsolete venation.
description: Published as part of Anisyutkin, Leonid N. & Yushkova, Olga V., 2017, New data on cockroaches of the subfamily Epilamprinae (Dictyoptera: Blaberidae) from India and Sri Lanka, with descriptions of new species and the genital complex of Aptera fusca (Thunberg, 1784), pp. 41-64 in Zootaxa 4236 (1) on pages 56-59, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4236.1.2, http://zenodo.org/record/322014