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Attaphila flava
| Attaphila flava | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Blattoidea |
| Family: | Ectobiidae |
| Genus: | Attaphila |
| Species: | A. flava |
| Binomial name | |
| Attaphila flava Gurney, 1937 | |
There are nine species of myrmecophiles in the genus Attaphila.
Diagnosis
The type specimen of A. flava is very similar to the male of A. fungicola and only shows slight differences in few characters: tegmina with apical border slightly convex, less oblique, surface bristles less strong; hook of left phallomere from the wide sclerotised base more gradually narrowing into a shorter neck, endophallic apodeme near its posterior base less strongly narrowed; and it has a different, though unknown host species.
Description
Distribution
Belize
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 unknown
REFERENCES
- Gurney AB (1937) Studies in certain genera of American Blattidae (Orthoptera). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 39(5): 101–112.