Attaphila aptera

Attaphila aptera
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Blattoidea
Family:	Ectobiidae
Genus:	Attaphila
Species:	A. aptera
Binomial name
	Attaphila aptera; Bolivar, 1905

There are nine species of myrmecophiles in the genus Attaphila.

Diagnosis

Male: Well characterised by several features unique in Attaphila: the specialisation on T1 involving moderately long bristles (msp1), the bristle distribution on T6,7 with numerous bristles on the surface but none along the posterior border, and the specially shaped virga (with a moderate sinusoidal curvature). Female: Surface bristles of T2–5 dispersed, of T6 numerous, relatively long and strong. Unique among Attaphila species by presence of a lateral gonangulum sclerite (unknown for A. sexdentis). From A. bergi distinguished by S7 having a median gap in the transversal ridge. A. sexdentis also has numerous, but smaller bristles on T6 and a differently shaped S7.

Description

Distribution

Colombia, Panama, Suriname

Biology

While the Orthoptera, as a rule, are large or medium-sized insects, both Myrmecophila and Attaphila are so far below even the average stature of insects of this order that we must conclude either that they have become reduced in size secondarily in adaptation to their present habitat and companionship, or that they were originally diminutive species, and, for that very reason, better able to enter into symbiotic relationship with the ants. The latter alternative seems to be the more probable

Ant host: Acromyrmex octospinosus, Acromyrmex echinatior

REFERENCES

Bohn, H. Nehring, V., Rodriquez, J. and Klass, K-D. 2021. Revision of the genus Attaphila (Blattodea: Blaberoidea), myrmecophiles living in the mushroom gardens of leaf-cutting ants. Arthropod Systematics & Phylogeny 79:205-280.

Bolívar I (1905) Les blattes myrmécophiles. Mitteilungen der Schweizer Entomologischen Gesellschaft 11 (1903–1905): 134–141.