Nocticola vagus Wang, Jeon, Cognato, 2025

Wang, Junkai, Jeon, Alan & Cognato, Anthony I., 2025, A new adventive parthenogenetic Nocticola species (Blattodea: Nocticolidae) found in Florida, USA and Vienna, Austria, Zootaxa 5642 (5), pp. 493-500 : 497

Nocticola vagus Wang, Jeon, Cognato , sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:15693961-7A11-4131-9338-F5EC6FBCD598

Fig. 3

Type material. Holotype: female, USA. Florida, Miami-Dade Co., University Park , 25.7347°N, 80.3653°W, June 2020, A. Jeon Coll.; second label: DNA voucher 4; third label: MSUC _ ARC _19917( MSUC).

Paratypes: 2 females, same locality as holotype (2 MSUC, one with second label “DNA voucher 1”, all with MSUC _ ARC _19916 & MSUC _ ARC _19918 labels); (4) females, USA, pet trade, roachcrossing.com, Nocticola sp. “ Malaysia ” (4 MSUC, two with second label: DNA voucher 2 & 5, all with MSUC _ ARC _19919 - 19922 labels) . 1 female, USA, pet trade, roachcrossing.com, Nocticola sp. “ Schönbrunn Zoo ”; second label: DNA voucher 6; third label: MSUC _ ARC _19923 label (1 MSUC) .

Diagnosis: The eight ommatidia /eye and presence a subtrapezoidal supra-anal plate are diagnostic for N. vagus sp. nov. and it differs from females of the following species: N. australiensis has ten ommatidia; N. baumi is eyeless, has more elongated tibia and femur, and has a rounded supra-anal plate with weak medial notch; N. flabella is eyeless and has a supra-anal plate rounded; N. remyi has three ommatidia. Although female descriptions are lacking for other Nocticola species, phylogenetic placement using COI or 16S data will diagnose N. vagus sp. nov. That is, monophyly of unidentified specimens with the known N. vagus sp. nov. sequences and within 10% 16S sequence difference would suggest an identity as N. vagus sp. nov.

Description. Females: Completely apterous. Body small, partially pigmented, pale yellow to brown. Body with dense short sensilla chaetica. Head large, with long filiform antennae almost twice the length of the pronotum. Eyes largely reduced, each with 8 ommatidia, lateral ocelli not present. Maxillary palpi five segmented, nearly the length of the head. Pronotum parabolic, hairs along the margin pointing outwards. Front femur type C1. Fore tibiae almost spineless throughout the length with only two apical spines and one ventral preapical spine. Mid tibiae 6 spines and hind tibiae 8 spines. Tibiae cylindrical, slightly longer than compressed femora. First tarsomere elongated, longer than other tarsomeres combined. Last tarsomere with simple claws, lacking apical pads and arolium. Supra-anal plate subtrapezoidal, notched medially. Subgenital plate valvular. Cerci with three strong ventral spines on segment two and three.

Males: Unknown, not present in the discovered population or in the pet trade.

Ootheca:Approximately 1.2 mm length, 1.5 mm height, and 1.0 mm width. Eggs visible through the translucent oothecal wall in newly produced ootheca. Mature oothecal wall reddish. Small, denticulated keel along the dorsal median line. Flange poorly developed. Ootheca is formed of four eggs arranged in two rows, with eggs on one side offset by half an egg’s width relative to those on the other side. Dorsoventral axis of ootheca corresponds to the anteroposterior axis of the contained eggs, dorsal side of each egg facing oothecal wall.

Distribution. Apparently adventive. Occurring wild in Florida, the USA pet trade, specimens originally sourced from Malaysia, and a greenhouse in Schönbrunn Zoo, Vienna, Austria. Native distribution unknown.

Biology. Unknown.

Etymology. vagus - Latin = wandering. This name signifies the occurrence of this species on three continents.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Nocticola vagus sp. nov. female holotype. Habitus A) frontal, B) dorsal, C) lateral, D) ventral view and ootheca E) lateral view.