Three New Species of Giant Cockroach Discovered in China
Posted on February 28, 2013
Three new species of the giant cockroach genus Pseudophoraspis have been discovered in China. This is the first time Pseudophoraspis has been found in chinca. The new species include: Pseudophoraspis clavellata, Pseudophoraspis recurvata and Pseudophoraspis incurvata. They belong to the cockroach family Blaberidae, which are also known as giant cockroaches.
Pseudophoraspis clavellat is pictured above and Pseudophoraspis incurvata, with its wings spread out, is pictured below.
These new species are some of the smaller members of the giant cockroach genus. They can reach 3 centimeters (1.18 inches) in length, whereas females of Blaberus giganteus can be up to 10 centimeters (3.93 inches) long.
Dr. Zongqing Wang, an author of the study from the Institute of Entomology, Southwest University, China, said in the announcement, "All of the known species were reported from Southeast Asia and South Asia, and the previously known boundary of this genus would be Vietnam. We found three new species from China, located in Hainan, Yunnan and Guangxi Provinces respectively, which extends the range of the genus Pseudophoraspis northward."
The research was published in Zookeys.
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