Lucihormetica is a South American genus of giant cockroaches from the family Blaberidae, collectively referred to as glowspot cockroaches.[1][2] It has been anecdotally reported that the thoracic spots of males are bioluminescent, but detailed research has been unable to conclusively prove this,[3][4] although evidence for autofluorescence exists.[5] The genus includes both relatively common and rare species: For example, L. verrucosa is relatively common and sometimes kept in captivity, while eight of the remaining species (as well as an additional undescribed species) only are known from a single specimen each.[2]

Lucihormetica
Lucihormetica luckae
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Blattodea
Family: Blaberidae
Subfamily: Blaberinae
Genus: Lucihormetica
Zompro & Fritzsche, 1999
Species

See text

Species

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The Cockroach Species File[6] lists:

  1. Lucihormetica amazonica (Rocha e Silva, 1987)
  2. Lucihormetica cerdai (Ramirez-Pérez, 1992)
  3. Lucihormetica fenestrata Zompro & Fritzsche, 1999 - type species
  4. Lucihormetica grossei Fritzsche, 2003
  5. Lucihormetica interna (Walker, 1868)
  6. Lucihormetica osunai (Ramirez-Pérez, 1992)
  7. Lucihormetica seabrai (Rocha e Silva, 1987)
  8. Lucihormetica subcincta (Walker, 1868)
  9. Lucihormetica tapurucuara (Rocha e Silva, 1979)
  10. Lucihormetica verrucosa (Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1865)
  11. Lucihormetica yasuniana Vidlicka, 2019
  12. Lucihormetica zomproi Fritzsche, 2008

In addition, the following species has been reported by Vrsansky et al.

References

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  1. ^ Uniport Taxonomy
  2. ^ a b c Vršanský P.; et al. (2012). "Light-mimicking cockroaches indicate Tertiary origin of recent terrestrial luminescence". Naturwissenschaften. 99 (9): 739–749. doi:10.1007/s00114-012-0956-7. PMID 22864963.
  3. ^ Greven, Hartmut; Zwanzig, Nadine (2013). "Courtship, Mating, and Organisation of the Pronotum in the Glowspot Cockroach Lucihormetica verrucosa (Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1865) (Blattodea: Blaberidae)". Entomologie Heute. 25: 77–97.
  4. ^ Merritt, David J. (2013). "Standards of evidence for bioluminescence in cockroaches". Naturwissenschaften. 100 (7): 697–698. doi:10.1007/s00114-013-1067-9. PMID 23740173.
  5. ^ Vršanský, Peter; Chorvát, Dušan (2013). "Luminescent system of Lucihormetica luckae supported by fluorescence lifetime imaging". Naturwissenschaften. 100 (11): 1099–1101. doi:10.1007/s00114-013-1100-z. PMID 24189980.
  6. ^ Cockroach Species File: genus Lucihormetica Zompro & Fritzsche, 1999 (retrieved 31 October 2023)