Synoptic Revision of Blabericola (Apicomplexa: Eugregarinida: Blabericolidae) Parasitizing Blaberid Cockroaches (Dictyoptera: Blaberidae), with Comments On Delineating Gregarine Species Boundaries

Abstract

Complete synoptic redescriptions, including complete morphometric data for all life cycle stages, species recognition characters, and differential comparisons are presented for the 4 gregarine species comprising Blabericola . Blabericola cubensis ( Peregrine, 1970 ), Blabericola haasi (Geus, 1969), Blabericola migrator ( Clopton, 1995 ), and Blabericola princisi ( Peregrine, 1970 ) are redescribed from their type hosts, i.e., the discoid cockroach Blaberus discoidalis , the lobster cockroach Nauphoeta cinerea , the Madagascar hissing cockroach Gromphadorhina portentosa , and the Bolivian cockroach Blaberus boliviensis , respectively. These gregarine species descriptions are stabilized through deposition of extensive new voucher collections. Species of Blabericola are distinguished by differences in relative metric ratios, morphology of oocysts, and by relative metric ratios of mature gamonts in association. This work is discussed as a model for morphological species descriptions in the Eugregarinorida including the 6 principles for morphological gregarine species descriptions, i.e., a centroid and population variation approach, adequate sample size, partitioning developmental variation and sexual dimorphism, recognition and minimization of fixation and physiological artifacts to eliminate false morphotypes, and comparative data sets across multiple life cycle stages.