Margattea Shelford, 1911

Li, Qian-Qian, Yao, Wen-Wen, Zhang, Ke, Wang, Zong-Qing & Che, Yan-Li, 2024, Six new species of Margattea Shelford, 1911 (Blaberoidea, Pseudophyllodromiidae, Neoblattellini) from China, ZooKeys 1191, pp. 339-367 : 339

Margattea Shelford, 1911

Margattea Shelford, 1911: 155. Type species: Blatta ceylanica Saussure, 1868; by monotypy. Rehn 1931: 302; Bey-Bienko 1938: 121; Bey-Bienko 1950: 145; Princis 1969: 862; Roth 1989: 207; Roth 1991: 980; Wang et al. 2009: 51; Liu and Zhou 2011: 936; Wang et al. 2014: 31; He et al. 2021: 121.

Kuchinga Hebard, 1929: 41. Type species: Phyllodromia longealata Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1898; by selection. Hanitsch 1931: 392. Synonymized by Bey-Bienko 1938: 121. Princis 1969: 862.

Theganosilpha Kumar & Princis, 1978: 33. Type species: Theganopteryx perspicillaris Karny, 1915; by monotypy. Asahina 1979: 119. Synonymized by Roth 1989: 207.

Molestella Bruijning, 1948: 74. Type species: Phyllodromia molesta Brunner von Wattenwyl & Bruijning, 1948; by monotypy. Princis 1969: 803. Synonymized by Roth 1991: 980.

Margattina Bey-Bienko, 1958: 675. Type species: Margattina trispina Bey-Bienko, 1958. Synonymized by Liu et Zhou 2011: 936.

Diagnosis.

Body small, usually yellowish brown. Interocellar distance slightly wider than the distance between eyes, narrower than the distance between antennal sockets. The fifth maxillary palp expanded, the third and fourth palpi both longer than the fifth palp. Pronotum subelliptical, broader than long, the disc usually with symmetrical maculae and stripes. Tegmina and hind wings fully developed, mostly both extending beyond the end of abdomen. Tegmina with M and CuA radial, M straight with 4-7 branches. Hind wings with ScP and RA expanded at apex, CuA with 4-6 complete branches. Anteroventral margin of front femur Type B2 or B3. Four proximal tarsomeres with pulvilli. The pretarsi with arolium, tarsal claws symmetrical and specialized, with minute denticles on ventral margins. Eighth abdominal tergum usually specialized, with a tuft of setae in the middle near posterior margin. Supra-anal plate usually short and transverse, paraprocts similar and flaky. Cerci long, with setae on the ventral surface. Male subgenital plate symmetrical or slightly asymmetrical. Styli symmetrical and cylindrical, rarely asymmetrical or non-cylindrical. Male genitalia. Left phallomere small, irregularly bone-shaped, mostly with spine-like process. Median phallomere slender, rod-shaped, the apex irregular and variable; accessory sclerite complicated, generally arched. Hook phallomere on right side, apex usually curved inwards.

Differential diagnosis.

The genus Margattea is supposedly closely related to Chorisoserrata ( Wang et al. 2023) and morphologically similar to Balta , but Margattea could be distinguished from Chorisoserrata and Balta by the following characteristics. The genus Margattea can be distinguished from Balta (Asia, Africa, and parts of Oceania) by the following characteristics: 1) anteroventral margin of front femur Type B2 or B3, in contrast to C2 (but rarely B3) in Balta ; 2) the tarsal claws symmetrical and specialized, but in the latter, the tarsal claws asymmetrical and unspecialized.

The genus Margattea can be distinguished from Chorisoserrata (parts of Asia and Indonesia) by the following characteristics: 1) anteroventral margin of front femur Type B2 or B3, in contrast to C2 (but rarely B3) in Chorisoserrata ; 2) eighth abdominal tergum usually specialized, with a tuft of setae in the middle near posterior margin; while in the latter, abdominal terga unspecialized.