Afro-Asian cockroach from Chiapas amber and the lost Tertiary American entomofauna

Abstract

Cockroach genera with synanthropic species (Blattella, Ectobius, Supella, Periplaneta, Diploptera and ?Blatta), as well as other insects such as honeybees, although natively limited to certain continents nowadays, had circumtropic distribution in the past. The ease of their reintroduction into their former range suggests a post-Early Miocene environmental stress which led to the extinction of cosmopolitan Tertiary entomofauna in the Americas, whilst in Eurasia, Africa and Australia this fauna survived. This phenomenon is demonstrated here on a low diversity (10 spp.) living cockroach genus Supella, which is peculiar for the circumtropical synanthropic brownbanded cockroach S. longipalpa and also for its exclusively free-living cavicolous species restricted to Africa. S. (Nemosupella) miocenica sp. nov. from the Miocene amber of Chiapas in Mexico is a sister species to the living S. mirabilis from the Lower Guinea forests and adjacent savannas. The difference is restricted to the shape of the central macula on the pronotum, and size, which may indicate the around-Miocene origin of the living, extremely polymorphic Supella species and possibly also the isochronic invasion into the Americas. The species also has a number of characteristics of the Asian (and possibly also Australian) uniform genus Allacta (falling within the generic variability of Supella) suggesting Supella is a direct ancestor of the former. The present species is the first significant evidence for incomplete hiati between well defined cockroach genera -a result of the extensive fossil record of the group. The reported specimen is covered by a mycelium of a parasitic fungus Cordyceps or Entomophthora.

New Species of Anaplecta BURMEISTER, 1838 (Blattaria) from Chiapas Amber, Mexico

“…Some leg-and palp segments differ in dimensions on left side and right side of the body, indicating slight dextro-sinistral asymmetry (visualisation includes the first partial visual 3D extraction ). In contrast to Supella miocenica Vršanský et al 2011, but in concordance with other Cenozoic amber species, the present cockroach does not show any significantly primitive characters. The genus Anaplecta is cosmopolitan and 10 species live also in Mexico including Chiapas today.…”

“…The genus Anaplecta is cosmopolitan and 10 species live also in Mexico including Chiapas today. The new species is only the second (Vršanský et al 2011;Ischnoptera Burmeister, 1838 reported by Solorzano-Kraemer 2007) cockroach described from this amber. In addition to indigenous genera mentioned above and those characteristic for America, the present found is the first Cenozoic American occurrence of a living cosmopolitan genus.…”

Completely preserved cockroaches of the family Mesoblattinidae from the Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation (Liaoning Province, NE China)

“…For example, it varies between 50 (right forewing) and 47 (left forewing) in the specimen CNU-B-NN-2011606 and between 43 (right forewing) and 44 (left forewing) in the specimen CNU-B-NN-2011610. These patterns show that cockroaches are often asymmetrical in their venation, as observed also in living individuals (Roth 1991), amber specimens (Vršanský et al 2011) as well as in other fossil specimens preserved in sediments (Liang et al 2012).…”

Latiblattella avita sp. nov. (Blattaria: Ectobiidae) from the Eocene Kishenehn Formation, Montana, USA

“…On the other hand, nearly all (9/11) cockroach genera from the Green River Formation and all genera from Dominican Republic and Mexican amber are extant. The marked differences in the composition of the Cenozoic and Cretaceous entomofauna suggest a very rapid evolution and radiation of the cockroach biota in the Paleocene and early Eocene (Vršanský et al, 2011;2012;2013;Gorochov, 2007). Interestingly, Namablatta, Diploptera, Ectobius, Allacta Saussure and Zehntner, 1895, Blattella and Supella are all extant genera that were present in the North and Central American Paleogene that are now, except for recent reintroduction, extinct in those areas (Vršanský et al, 2011).…”

“…Extinct species number over 1,000 but nearly 80% of these are Paleozoic "roachoids" (Mitchell, 2013). The modern cockroach fauna is thought to have evolved immediately after the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary (Vršanský et al, , 2011(Vršanský et al, , 2012 although only 53 fossil species have been described from the Cenozoic era (Mitchell, 2013;Arillo and Ortuño, GREENWALT & VIDLIČKA: NEW EOCENE COCKROACH 2 2005; Solórzano Kraemer, 2007;Gorochov, 2007). Undescribed material includes that presently studied from the Green River (e.g., the genera Blattella Caudell, 1903, Namablatta Rehn, 1937, Diploptera Saussure, 1864, Sigmella Hebard, 1940and Symploce Hebard, 1916 in Colorado (Vršanský et al, 2011(Vršanský et al, , 2012.…”