Attaphila schuppi

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

There are nine species of myrmecophiles in the genus Attaphila.

Diagnosis

Female: Characterised by a series of unique features: Transversal ridge of T2–5 mesally and laterally with a small but distinct anterior excurvation (much weaker present also in A. multisetosa), transversal ridge absent on T7, cerci longer than wide

Description

Distribution

Brazil

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 niger

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.