Lucihormetica Explained

Lucihormetica is a South American genus of giant cockroaches from the family Blaberidae, collectively referred to as glowspot cockroaches.^[1] It has been anecdotally reported that the thoracic spots of males are bioluminescent, but detailed research has been unable to conclusively prove this,^{[2] [3]} although evidence for autofluorescence exists.^[4] 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.

Species

The Cockroach Species File^[5] 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.

• Lucihormetica luckae^[6]

Notes and References

1. https://www.uniprot.org/taxonomy/406665 Uniport Taxonomy
2. 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.
3. Merritt, David J. . 2013 . Standards of evidence for bioluminescence in cockroaches . Naturwissenschaften . 100 . 7 . 697–698 . 10.1007/s00114-013-1067-9 . 23740173.
4. Vršanský, Peter . Chorvát, Dušan . 2013 . Luminescent system of Lucihormetica luckae supported by fluorescence lifetime imaging . Naturwissenschaften . 100 . 11 . 1099–1101 . 10.1007/s00114-013-1100-z . 24189980. free .
5. https://cockroach.speciesfile.org/otus/858568/overview Cockroach Species File: genus Lucihormetica Zompro & Fritzsche, 1999 (retrieved 31 October 2023)
6. Vršanský P.. etal. 2012 . Light-mimicking cockroaches indicate Tertiary origin of recent terrestrial luminescence . Naturwissenschaften . 99 . 9. 739–749 . 10.1007/s00114-012-0956-7 . 22864963.