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Melanozosteria soror

White-edged Wingless Cockroach

Multimedia & Additional Resources

Type	Description	Download
Image:	specimen - adult	64KB

General Information

COMMON NAMES: White-edged Wingless Cockroach, White-margined Cockroach

TRADITIONAL NAMES: Popolonga Uli (PK)EXOTIC EXOTIC circumtropical, incl. New Caledonia - Marquesas, Hawai‘i

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Introduced - Recent, Naturalised; Land, lowlands; in litter and under logs

KEY FEATURES: Wingless, dark brown cockroach, to 20x8mm. White margin on sides of thorax, and 0-4 abdominal segments. Wingcovers reduced, cover outer section of 2nd segment only.

Enlarged Image of 'Melanozosteria soror'

Cook Islands Distribution

View Distribution Map

Southern Group: Present Makatea:
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
P			P		P

Northern Group:
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW
			P

Key to Symbols

blank	no data
-	absent	L	localised
X	extinct 'naturally'	W	widespread
XQi	quarantine intercepted	R	recent
XQe	eradicated	?	query preceding category
P	present	T?	taxonomic query
S	seasonal	nn	present, said to have no name
O	occasional	?1	present, name not investigated
++++	very common	?2	presence not verified, no name recorded
+++	common	N/A	absent, name not expected
++	uncommon
+	rare
Cook Islands islands: RR =Rarotonga, MG = Mangaia, AT =‘Ātiu, MK=Ma‘uke, MT=Miti‘āro, AK=Aitutaki, PL=Palmerston, PN=Penrhyn, MN=Manuae, TK=Takūtea, TN=Tongareva (TS=Tongaleva Spoken, TW=Tongareva Written, they say "el" but write "r"), MH=Manihiki, RK=Rakahanga, PK=Pukapuka, NS=Nassau, SW=Suwarrow. After a Polynesian name: ^=orthography query. Countries and other: FIJ=Fiji, WT=Wallis & Futuna, SAM=Samoa, TON=Tonga, NIU=Niue, CK=Cook Islands, CKM=Cook Islands Māori, FP=French Polynesia, AUS=Australs, SOC=Societies, TAH=Tahiti, TUA=Tuamotus, MQS=Marquesas, MNG=Mangareva, PIT=Pitcain group, EAS=Easter Island, HAW=Hawai‘i, NZ=New Zealand, NZM=New Zealand Māori

Scientific Taxonomy

Melanozosteria soror (Brunner von Wattenwyl 1865)
SYNONYMS: Cutilia soror; Polyzosteria soror [O]; Polyzosteria (Melanozosteria) soror

TAXONOMY: ANIMALIA; ARTHROPODA; ATELOCERATA; HEXAPODA; INSECTA; PTERYGOTA; Blattodea; BLATTIDAE

More Information

IDENTIFICATION: Glossy dark brown cockroach with a white margin, to 20x8mm. THORAX white margins except at front of 1st segment; adult 2nd with vestigial wing-covers on outer edge; 3rd broad. ABDOMEN uniformly dark brown, w/wo white edges on first 1-4 segments. LEGS uniformly brown.

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
Rarotonga: Auckland BESO image B1008 listed as Drym…., probably M. soror except that its hindlegs are centrally much thicker hind legs. Mauke: specimen, 11/1984, G.McCormack, in BPBM wo ID, ID G.McCormack 5/2004 as Melanozosteria soror. Aitutaki: specimen, 1955, E.B.Pearson, in BPBM as Melanozosteria soror. Pukapuka: fieldspecimen+photo (no specimen collected), 2/2004, G.McCormack with ID as Melanozosteria soror based on BPBM specimens.

References:
None recorded.

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB02, zM05a, zD02, zupD04a

Web Resources

Citation Information

McCormack, Gerald (2007) Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga. Online at http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org.
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