Shelfordella lateralis, (Walker, 1868)) (Walker, 1868)

Davranoglou, Leonidas-Romanos, Hadjiconstantis, Michael & Mann, Darren J., 2020, First record of the Turkestan cockroach (Shelfordella lateralis) from Cyprus and Turkey (Dictyoptera: Blattidae), Israel Journal of Entomology (Oxford, England) 50 (1), pp. 1-8 : 3-6

Both sexes of

Sh. lateralis

are easily distinguished from all other native or invasive cockroaches of Cyprus and Turkey, based on the following characters: in males, the lateral margins of the pronotum and tegmina are distinctly transluscent ( Fig. 1A, C, D; black arrows), the ventral surface of the body is pale white ( Fig. 1E), and the shape of the phallomeres as in Fig. 2A, B. In females, the tegmina (tg) are always brachypterous and possess a characteristic yellowish stripe ( Fig. 1B, F), whereas tergum 1 is provided with a pair of orange spots on its lateral margin ( Fig. 1B, F; white arrows); the ventral surface of the fore coxae is almost entirely pale, while the mid and hind coxae are bicolorous, being black and pale on their anterior and posterior halves respectively ( Fig. 1G). The external female genitalia ( Fig. 2C, D) and ootheca ( Fig. 1H) are also characteristic for this species, and identical to those of the Turkish and USA specimens examined in this study. Since all our specimens possess the characters diagnostic for this species (Grandcolas 1994 b; Tanaka 2003), we believe that our identification is justified.

Morphology of male genitalia

The paraprocts (papt) are strongly asymmetrical ( Fig. 2A, B; black dashed line); L3 (L3d) bears three distinct processes: a small, semi-transparent spine (1), a large, hooklike process (2), and a medium sized spine with a tapered apex (3) ( Fig. 2A); L4C (L2d) is in the shape of a sclerotized line, its apex is distinctly bilobed due to the presence of a membranous lobe ( Fig. 2A, B); ventral to L4C, there is a large membranous lobe [lml (L2v); part of phallomere L2 according to Anisyutkin (2014)], whose sclerotised portion bears a field of setae ( Fig. 2A, B); the caudal process of L2 is in the form of an acute spine ( Fig. 2A, B); L4F is small and rounded (outline indicated by white dashed line on Fig. 2B); phallomeres L1 and L4D are not observed.

We note that there is an incongruence between the two studies of Grandcolas (1994 a, b) regarding the identity of certain phallomeres: using his terminology, what he illustrated as L2d and L2v of Periplaneta are mentioned as L3v and L2d respectively in Shelfordella .

Rearing

The first generation (F1) offspring matured after one year, with the majority being males (10 females and 20 males). The adults reproduced continuously throughout the year until dying approximately one year later. The reproductive output of this species was considerable, even when kept in seminatural conditions with cold periods during winter, as by the time F1 died out, the subsequent two generations (adults F2 and larvae F3) in the the captive population numbered more than 4,000 individuals. By rearing this species in the local climate for more than two years, as well as collecting gravid females and larvae from the wild, we provide evidence that the species can reproduce successfully in Cyprus.