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Ectobius pallidus - antenna, Heesch, Netherlands
Ths image is the result of a failed stack, so I figured to reuse it for another purpose: a very basic anatomy overview of the antenna. From right to left:
- Attached to the head, the tube-like part is called the scape or base.
- Next is a roundish socket-like part called the pedical or stem.
- Followed by a variable amount of hairy segments collectively called the flagellum, which collects the sensory input
The scape and pedical are internally connected and together controlled by a muscle, allowing the insect to control the antennae as a whole. The individual segments of the antenna (flagellomeres) are not directly controlled by muscle. If you really want to nerd out on insect antennae, here's an excellent article that goes far deeper:
http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Cockroach_antennae
Ectobius pallidus (Olivier 1789) is a species of non-cosmopolitan cockroach in the family Ectobiidae. The species is native to western Europe and North Africa. In the UK, where it is known from southern England, it has colloquially been dubbed the "Tawny cockroach". In North America the vernacular names "Spotted Mediterranean Cockroach" or "Pallid Cockroach" have been pitched.
comments (9)
I hope to be working on an article to introduce two new species for the Netherlands soon and expect more "Cockroach ID help" images to be added in the process ...
P.S. Apropos: In what habitat did you find this specimen? Urban area? Heathland? Woods? Posted 4 years ago, modified 4 years ago
Habitat is our garden :) Posted 4 years ago
7Ectobius vittiventris
11Planuncus tingitanus s.l.
Thanks for the info on the habitat - this species is said to be mostly bound to heathland and sand dunes etc. but we have a fair amount of observations in urban areas, so we may have to adjust that a little. The two new ones are (for now) mostly urban, but it's clear that habitat alone is not diagnostic enough (and it takes good pictures to fix the ID otherwise).
Some more discussion on that here:
Keys are a bit problematic. The more comprehensive ones are quite old and many species have been (re)described, split, renamed etc since, so you will always need extra separata of newer articles along with those. Of course, I hope to be able to add a new key for the Beelux-species, including the nymphs (which is quite unique, as well as challenging) to the article, soon to appear.
As for characters: Generally speaking these things are quite helpful:
- Size
- Length of tegmina/wings
- Colour/pattern on head and pronotum, tegmina and abdomen
- Shape/size/position of cerci
- Structure of terminal segments of abdomen, mostly ventrally
- Microscopic shape/structure of gland pit dorsally on the abdomen (under the wings) of males
That last character is the "killer feature" to look for, much like male genitalia in many other insects, but it will always require a pinned male and a microscopic slide prepared to check this under a microscope. Posted 4 years ago