Ectobius eckerleini
| Ectobius eckerleini | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Ectobius eckerleini | ||||||||||||
| Harz , 1977 |
Ectobius eckerleini is a rarely found species of European wood cockroaches . The species has so far only been found in France and Switzerland.
features
Ectobius eckerleini is a medium-sized cockroach species (smaller than the similar Ectobius vittiventris ). Individuals reach a body length of about 8 millimeters, the length of the pronotum is a little more than 2 millimeters, the length of the wings ( tegmina ) in the females is a good 9, in the males about 5 millimeters, the tegmina are also shorter than in the females in most related species. The species is predominantly colored light ocher yellow. In the males, the pronotum is round-oval, the disc of the pronotum is either completely light, or it has brown markings of different dimensions, but is never completely dark. The tegmina are indistinctly lightly spotted, mostly they have a few indistinct dark spots on the outside (in the distal third). In the females, the pronotum is hoof-like (rounded at the front with indicated rear corners), its disc is usually light colored, it can have a few dark spots, the rear corners are rarely dark or the entire disc is darkened to hazel brown. The tegmina are colored similarly to the males, but almost always have numerous small dark spots. Their veins are whitish yellow, only darkened at the base in the males. The tergites of the abdomen are lightly edged, the central, dark area is often lightly spotted. The glandular pit on the seventh tergite of the abdomen of the males is densely bristled along the rear margin.
distribution
The species lives in the southwest of Switzerland, in the cantons of Vaud and Wallis and in the south and east of France, so far proven in the departments Ain , Haute-Savoie , Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and Lozère . It often occurs together with Ectobius lucidus and Ectobius sylvestris . Compared to the very similar and probably closely related Ectobius ticinus, the species has an adjacent, non-overlapping distribution area (parapatric). Ectobius eckerleini lives west of the Simplon, Nufenen and Furka passes, Ectobius ticinus east of them.
Taxonomy
The species was discovered by the entomologist Hans Eckerlein in the Montagne de Lure in Provence in 1956 and handed over to the orthopter specialist Kurt Harz . After he had not found any new material in over 20 years, he re-described the species in 1977 and named it in honor of Eckerlein. Further material in Switzerland and France was then found in various collections by the entomologist Horst Bohn , where it was previously incorrectly classified under different species names.
The species belongs within the genus Ectobius to the subgenus Ectobius s. st. and there forms the sylvestris species group with a number of very similar species .
Literature and Sources
- Kurt Harz (1977): A new Ectobius species from France (Blattoptera, Ectobiidae). Articulata 6: 28-29. Download PDF
- Horst Bohn (2004): The Blattoptera fauna of Switzerland and the adjacent regions of France, Italy and Austria. I. The species of the Sylvestris group of Ectobius. Spixiana 27 (3): 253-285. online at archive.org