''Planuncus'' is a genus of cockroaches native to Old World (especially Europe) described by Bohn in 2013 and belonging to the family Ectobiidae, subfamily

Ectobiinae Ectobiidae (formerly Blattellidae) is a family of the order Blattodea ( cockroaches). This family contains many of the smaller common household pest cockroaches, among others. They are sometimes called wood cockroaches. A few notable species inc ...

. The genus was only recently erected in an ongoing effort to create better groupings of species in the Ectobiinae and is composed of species previously classified as '' Ectobius'' and '' Phyllodromica'' that share a number of characters to set these off from other species in these genera. The defining characters are mainly in the male genitalia and subgenital plate, so externally the species of the genus are not clearly separable by a common denominator from the remaining species still in the genera ''Ectobius'' or ''Phyllodromica''.

Subgenera

From the start, three subgenera are defined to further group the species within the genus ''Planuncus'', containing the species listed below (types are listed in bold):

Subgenus ''Planuncus''

This subgenus comprises the species that might previously have been addressed as the ''tingitanus''-group of the genus ''Ectobius'', including the recently described ''Ectobius vinzi''. Formal classification of the species in this group awaits further research and some or all may or may not prove to be synonymous in the near future. For the time being the species group (or subgenus for that matter) might also be addressed as ''

Planuncus tingitanus s.l. ''Planuncus tingitanus s.l.'' is a working title for any of the species belonging to the ''Planuncus tingitanus'' species group, of the cockroach genus ''Planuncus'' (Blattodea: Ectobiinae). As the exact status of some the species in this group ...

''. All species in the subgenus had previously been classified in the genus ''Ectobius'': * ''Planuncus (Planuncus) tingitanus'' (Bolivar, 1914) (org. ''Ectobius perspicillaris tingitanus'') * ''Planuncus (Planuncus) finoti'' (Chopard, 1943) (org. ''Ectobius finoti'') * ''Planuncus (Planuncus) vinzi'' (Maurel, 2012) (org. ''Ectobius vinzi'')

Subgenus ''Margundatus''

This is basically the ''baetica''-group of the genus ''Phyllodromica'' as had been previously formalized by Bohn (1992), but now classified under ''Planuncus'' to better reflect the affinities to other species. All species in this subgenus had previously been classified in the genus ''Phyllodromica'': * ''Planuncus (Margundatus) baeticus'' (Bolivar, 1884) (org. ''Aphlebia baetica'') * ''Planuncus (Margundatus) agenjoi'' (Harz, 1971) (org. ''Phyllodromica agenjoi'') * ''Planuncus (Margundatus) erythrurus'' (Bohn, 1992) (org. ''Phyllodromica erythrura'') * ''Planuncus (Margundatus) intermedius'' (Bohn, 1992) (org. ''Phyllodromica intermedia'') * ''Planuncus (Margundatus) krausei'' (Bohn, 1992) (org. ''Phyllodromica krausei'') * ''Planuncus (Margundatus) maculosus'' (Bohn, 1992) (org. ''Phyllodromica maculosa'') * ''Planuncus (Margundatus) paludicolus'' (Bohn, 1992) (org. ''Phyllodromica paludicola'') * ''Planuncus (Margundatus) princisi'' (Fernandes, 1962) (org. ''Phyllodromica princisi'') * ''Planuncus (Margundatus) striolatus'' (Bohn, 1992) (org. ''Phyllodromica striolata'')

Subgenus ''Margintorus''

This, at its inception, monotypic subgenus accommodates the single species previously known as ''Ectobius nicaeensis'': * ''Planuncus (Margintorus) nicaeensis'' (Brisout de Barneville, 1852) (org. ''Blatta nicaeensis'')

References

* Bohn, Horst; Beccaloni, George; Dorow, Wolfgang H.O.; Pfeifer, Manfred Alban 2013: Another species of European Ectobiinae travelling north – the new genus ''Planuncus'' and its relatives (Insecta: Blattodea: Ectobiinae). - Arthropod Systematics & Phylogeny, vol.71(3): 139-168
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* Bohn, H. 1992: Revision of the ''baetica''-group of ''Phyllodromica'' in Spain (Blattaria: Blattellidae: Ectobiinae). - Entomologica Scandinavica, vol.23(3): 319-345.

External links

Cockroach Species File
{{Taxonbar, from=Q18388915 Cockroach genera