The genus Periplaneta has been revised in a recent publication (Revision of the cockroach subfamily Blattinae based on morphological and molecular analyses), and split into multiple different genera based on phylogenetic evidence. Many species were moved to novel genera, and the paper focused not just on Periplaneta, but Blattinae in general, with several other important changes made. But for the pet hobby, particularly the US and EU hobbies, the following changes to Periplaneta in particular are of the most import.
First let's cover what species are still in Periplaneta:
Periplaneta americana
Periplaneta lateralis
These are both still in Periplaneta, and are the only true Periplaneta in culture now.
 |
| Periplaneta americana "Venom" |
One of the new genera that were erected in this paper and split off from Periplaneta is Fortiblatta. The species in culture that have been moved to this genus are:
These are all now Fortiblatta species, no longer considered Periplaneta.
 |
| Fortiblatta brunnea "EU Hobby Stock" |
Lastly we have the new genus Crescispina, which the following species was moved to:
This is the only species moved to this new genus currently in the US hobby.
 |
| Crescispina japonica |
So to reiterate, the current classification for these cultured species is as follows:
Crescispina japonica
Fortiblatta australasiae
Fortiblatta brunnea
Fortiblatta fuliginosa
Periplaneta americana
Periplaneta lateralis
And there we go! Many other species in Periplaneta were moved to these two new genera (as well as some other new genera), but as those species aren't yet in the US hobby, I will not be covering them here. You can read about the other changes made to Blattinae in the recent paper, if you're interested.
Well, that does it for this post, thanks for reading, hope everyone enjoyed, and I'll see you all next time! 😉
No comments:
Post a Comment