Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Paranauphoeta discoidalis = Paranauphoeta rufipes... Really!

Apparently now this blog is just a PSA site for taxonomy changes and such in Blatticulture... I'm OK with this. 😅

So apparently, Paranauphoeta discoidalis has been a synonym of Paranauphoeta rufipes for at least 30 years now... As you can see on the Cockroach Species File, discoidalis is listed as a synonym for rufipes, and a quick search shows that "P.discoidalis" hasn't been in literature for quite some time... Indeed, our hobby "P.discoidalis" match Paranauphoeta rufipes perfectly, and were collected within their natural range, (our stock came from the Tamrau Mountains, Indonesia, to be exact), so that would appear to be the correct ID, but how they were labeled with the name that's been a synonym for rufipes for 30 years is a mystery to me...

In any case, anyone still keeping "Paranauphoeta discoidalis" should now change their labels to Paranauphoeta rufipes, as that is the current name for this species! 😄

Unfortunately, as a side note, it would appear that the species has all but died out in the US hobby, with only a couple small colonies still remaining in the EU and Russia... Hopefully they'll be re-introduced to the US hobby one day, as they are quite a beautiful species, and I'd love to keep them again one day! (Note to self, NEVER use unsterilized leaf litter again, as that's what ended up dooming my old colony, damn protein hungry Trichoderma...).

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