Molecular data resolving the systematics of the related Blattellidae genera Symploce, Episymploce, and Blattella (Blattodea: Blaberoidea)

Abstract

Members of the morphologically and ecologically diverse Blattellidae provide a dilemma: their systematic assignment, whether morphologically similar or different, is uncertain. We pay special attention to several taxa: the morphologically similarEpisymploceBey-Bienko, 1950 andSymploceHebard, 1916, which were strongly disputed because of their extremely similar generic diagnosis in the past century, and one brachypterous species ofBlattellaCaudell, 1903, which can be easily distinguished from other macropterous members, but is at risk of being misassigned to other genera on the basis of morphological characters. We address the phylogeny of Blattellidae using DNA sequences (mitochondrial12S rRNA,16S rRNA,COII, nuclear28S rRNA, histoneH3) from a broad sample of taxa. A new genus (Centrocolumnagen. nov.) and four new species (Centrocolumna ericeasp. nov.,Symploce nigrasp. nov.,Symploce tubercularissp. nov.,Blattella foliolatasp. nov.) are established on the basis of morphological characters combined with the molecular data. The phylogenetic results indicate the relationships ((Episymploce+Blattella) +Centrocolumnagen. nov.) +Symploce. Furthermore, we delimited the taxonomic status of 12 new combinations, which involveCentrocolumnagen. nov.,Episymploce,Symploce, andBlattella.