Species Geoscapheus dilatatus (Saussure, 1864)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Panesthia dilatatus Saussure, H. de 1864. Blattarum novarum species aliquot. Revue et Magasin de Zoologie (Paris) 2 16: 305-326 [346].

  Type data:

   Lectotype GMNH ♂ adult, Darling Downs, QLD.
  Paralectotype(s) GMNH ♂ adult.

  Subsequent designation references:

  Roth, L.M. 1977. A taxonomic revision of the Panesthiinae of the world. I. The Panesthiinae of Australia (Dictyoptera: Blattaria: Blaberidae). Australian Journal of Zoology Supplementary Series 48: 1-112 [53].

Introduction

Despite prior reports of cryptic species, Beasley-Hall et al. (2021) completed a molecular phylogeny of the whole mitogenome to show that Geoscapheus dilatatus comprised a single taxon.

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

NSW, Qld, SA, Vic: Australian Alps (AA), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Kanmantoo (KAN), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP)

Ecological Descriptors

Burrower, litter, soil dweller.

Extra Ecological Information

Lives in spiral-shaped burrows and feeds on Eucalyptus spp. [Myrtaceae] leaf litter collected from ground surface, females exhibit lengthy parental care of young in burrow.

General References

Beasley-Hall, P., Rose, H., Bourguignon, T. & Lo, N. 2021. Molecular systematics and biogeography of an Australian soil-burrowing cockroach with polymorphic males, Geoscapheus dilatatus (Blattodea: Blaberidae). Austral Entomology 60: 317-329

Rugg, D. & Rose, H.A. 1984. Reproductive biology of some Australian cockroaches (Blattodea: Blaberidae). Journal of the Australian Entomological Society 23: 113-117 [113]

Zhang, J., Scrivener, A.M., Slaytor, M. & Rose, H.A. 1993. Diet and carbohydrase activities in three cockroaches, Calolampra elegans Roth and Princis, Geoscapheus dilatatus Saussure and Panesthia cribata Saussure. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology 104(A): 155-161

History of changes