''Periplaneta japanna'' is a
subtropical field-dwelling
cockroach
Cockroaches (or roaches) are a Paraphyly, paraphyletic group of insects belonging to Blattodea, containing all members of the group except termites. About 30 cockroach species out of 4,600 are associated with human habitats. Some species are we ...
endemic to southern Japan.
The Japanese common name means
urushi
''Toxicodendron vernicifluum'' (formerly ''Rhus verniciflua''), also known by the common name Chinese lacquer tree, is an Asian tree species of genus ''Toxicodendron'' native to China and the Indian subcontinent, and cultivated in regions of C ...
cockroach, or lacquer tree cockroach.
Nymphs and adults are a dark black, and typically live under stones and pieces of wood.
Their ability to bore or live in rotting wood enables their spread via ocean currents.
The species is found on several Japanese islands, distributed continuously from Japan's southwestern
Ryukyu Islands
The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yona ...
chain to the south of
Kiyushu Island, and on
Hachijō-jima Island.
Nymph specimens from Hachijō-jima Island and
Naha, Okinawa responded to photoperiodic stimuli quite differently during laboratory-induced diapause tests. This “might be regarded as the result of divergent evolution” between the parapatric populations.
References
External links
Civil International Corporation's blog(in English, translated by Google), with many photos and observations concerning ''P. japanna''. Retrieved 10 December 2013.
Civil International Corporation’s blog(in Japanese). Retrieved 10 December 2013.
{{Taxonbar, from=Q10623969
Cockroaches
Insects described in 1969