Lanxoblatta patriciae Vanker, Medina-Espinoza, & Evangelista sp. nov.

Figs 16, 17

Type material.

Holotype. • Male, pinned, with genitalia in a separate microvial. Original label: “ Peru: MD [Madre de Dios], Estación Biológica Los Amigos. Trail 10, terra firme forest, 12°33'59"S, 70°05'59"W [-12.566389, -70.099722], 6. vii. 2021 [6 July 2021], night, hand collected. D. A. Evangelista leg ”. AUDE-PE-1-69. Paratypes: • AUDE-PE-1-89 AUDE-PE-1-90, UIRB-PE-26-61, UI RB-PE-26-62, UIRB-PE-26-74, UIRB-PE-26-75, UIRB-PE-26-76, UIRB-PE-26-77, UIRB-PE-26-81, UIRB-PE-26-82, UIRB-PE-26-83 (locality and other data for all specimens are given in Table 3).

Determination.

This species was placed in Lanxoblatta based on the pronotal morphology (shape, color, and pronotal window shape). We were able to associate juveniles with the adults based on pronotal features.

Differential diagnosis.

Lanxoblatta patriciae, which is most similar to L. martinezi (Bolivar, 1881), and can be separated from all known Lanxoblatta based on the body size and pronotal morphology. L. patriciae and L. martinezi share the feature rugae radiating out from the pronotal center into the pronotal window. Lanxoblatta patriciae differs from L. martinezi in males being 20 mm long (L. martinezi males are 30 mm long; Table 4), and our lone female L. patriciae has semi-circular pronotum without any emargination (notch) in it laterally (L. martinezi females have an emargination on the pronotum just back of the lateral angles).

Remarks.

Lanxoblatta patriciae bears impressive pronotal warts, but we are unclear how they compare to pronotal rugosity in other Lanxoblatta spp. Lanxoblatta frater Hebard, 1933 is described as having “ nodules ”, and L. magnifica Rehn, 1932 bears “ tubercules ” on the pronotum. Lanxoblatta patriciae differs from L. frater Hebard, 1933 in having the warts much more extensive throughout the pronotum. We have not examined the tubercules in L. magnifica Rehn, 1932 but that species is nearly twice the size of L. patriciae. The description of L. martinezi (Bolivar, 1881) mentions granules on the pronotum but perhaps the microscopy available at the time was not sufficient to describe their detail more fully.

Description of holotype.

Male (AUDE-PE-1-69). Head. Two flat ocelli. Antennal scape and pedicel dark brown with paler flagellum. Frons and vertex dark brown, palest between the ocelli. The part of the postclypeus directly under the epistomal suture is paler, this pale area shrinks as the dark coloration, continued from the frons into the postclypeus, expands until reaching the anteclypeus where it abruptly stops, being replaced by a pale coloration. The labrum is banded, going from pale posteriorly, to dark, to pale again towards the mandibles. Maxillary and labial palp darker towards center of each segment, growing paler as the joint is approached.

Thorax. Pronotum. Roughly elliptical, with a greater distance from the vertexes to the top co-vertex than to the bottom co-vertex. Medial-anterior region of pronotum with a kidney shaped semi-transparent and unpigmented region. Pigmented areas of pronotum are mostly chestnut, with some near black-brown areas. Many small dark warts (protrusions that are narrow at the base and bulbous towards the apex) create a rugose texture. Many of the warts are so protruded that the form pillar-like shapes, only visible at high magnification. The greatest concentration are equidistant from the midline to the edge of the pronotum on either side, growing darker as their density increases, towards the edges of the pronotum the warts transition into shallow indentations. At the center of the pronotum, there are two dark sulci. Wings. Tegmina dark brown. Tegmina thickened basally so minor veins and crossveins are not entirely visible. Instead, there is a roughly uniform network of shallow pits. The subcostal and secondary branching of the radial veins support the laterally broad tegmina. Legs. Forecoxae pale brown. The forefemur is pale brown with a row of setae on ventro-anterior margin, with no apical spine or genicular spine. Foretibia with six spines on the dorsal side, one being smaller than the others, and five large ventral spines on the distal side of a dense patch of setae. Foretarsus composed of five segments, the first four having euplantulae and being significantly smaller than the pre-tarsus. Arolium present, claws simple and symmetrical. Mid femur pale brown with a few thin hairs on ventro-anterior margin. Midtibia pale brown with nine large ventral spines and seven dorsal. Midtarsus is broken but has at least four remaining tarsomeres, first tarsomere longer than its equivalent on the foreleg and the other three tarsomeres on mid tarsus with euplantulae present.

Abdomen. The dorsal abdomen is brown, paler than the pronotum but darker than the ventral abdomen. No visible tergal gland present. SA plate damaged in type. Posterior edge of sub-genital plate convexly arcuate with left stylus in a shallow and moderately narrow invagination. Right stylus missing due to damage (present in other specimens).

Genitalia. L 3 ’ hooked (see Fig. 17), lve long and slender, via: flat and broad at base with bulbous protrusion curving upwards to lve (see Fig. 17). R phallomere: curving on itself almost in a spiral pattern (see Fig. 17).

Morphological measurements are presented in Table 4.

Description of paratype.

Female. UIRB-PE-26-62. Head identical to description of male. Pronotum wider than in male, and more acutely angled laterally. Texture and color of pronotum indistinguishable from the male. Tegmina similar to male but truncated, only reaching to the posterior edge of T 5. Forelegs like male except only three spines in the dense patch of setae on the ventral tibia, and six spines on the dorsal side. Abdominal flanges more pronounced than in males, with some mottled coloration near the edges. SA plate also more expanded than male, extending past the ends of the cerci, which are also shorter in the female.

Range.

This is the first published record of Lanxoblatta in Peru. L. patriciae is widespread in Madre de Dios, but we did not find it at the two suburban sites near Puerto Maldonado. We hypothesize that it may be part of an evolutionary grade (parapatry) with L. martinezi because of the similarity with that species. This could suggest that its range to extends northward throughout the Peruvian Amazon.

Habitat.

Low hill forest and flooded alluvial forest.

Etymology.

The specific epithet is in honor of the grandmother of KV.