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. 2015 Mar 11;9(2):161-75.
eCollection 2015 Dec.

A Checklist of Iranian Cockroaches (Blattodea) with Description of Polyphaga sp as a New Species in Iran

Saedeh Sadat Hashemi-Aghdam  1 , Mohammad Ali Oshaghi  2
Affiliations

A Checklist of Iranian Cockroaches (Blattodea) with Description of Polyphaga sp as a New Species in Iran

Saedeh Sadat Hashemi-Aghdam et al. J Arthropod Borne Dis. .

Abstract

Background: Cockroaches are of vital importance medically and hygienically. They are able to contaminate foods and act as vectors of pathogenic agents such as bacteria, protozoa, and parasites to human environment either mechanically or through their digestive system. Cockroaches belong to the phylum Arthropoda, class Insecta, and order Blattodea or Blattaria. To date, over 4,500 cockroach species have been reported from different parts of the world. We overviewed the documents involved Iranian cockroaches to up-to-date checklist of cockroach species distributed in various provinces of Iran.

Methods: An extensive literature review was performed in 2013 on Iranian handbooks, reports and published data available since 1986 to obtain a comprehensive list of Iranian cockroaches. Furthermore, in an entomological survey in Tehran, cockroach specimens were collected and identified based on morphological and the DNA sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit II (COII) gene (mt-DNA COII) characteristics.

Results: Morphological characterization revealed presence of an un-described species very similar to Polyphaga aegyptiaca, P. indica and somehow to Pycnoscelus surinamensis, however, supplementary molecular analysis revealed the species was associated with Polyphaga of Corydiidae (Polyphagidae). With regards to the report of the un-described species, the cockroach fauna of Iran includes three families, 14 genera, and 26 species.

Conclusion: Some species has not been collected or reported recently and also many geographical regions of the country have not been studied yet, hence a systematic research is required to reveal the real cockroach list of the country. Geographical distributions, nomination changes, and synonyms of cockroach species are presented.

Keywords: Blattodea; Cockroach; Molecular systematics; Polyphaga sp; mtDNA-COII.

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Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Photos of an adult male specimen of Polyphaga sp found in Assad-Abad, northern Tehran, Iran, 2011. General top (A and B) and ventral (C) views, pronotum with a narrow yellowish band along anterior and lateral margins and straight posteriorly (D), and end of abdomen with a pair of anal styles (E). (Photos: original)
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Partial Comparison of the mtDNA-COII gene of different cockroach specie. The dashes (-) in the red square in the last three lines show the six DNA base pairs deletion in species of Polyphaga genus including the undescribed specimens (Polyphaga sp) and other two Polypahaga aegyptica from Japan (J) and London (L). The species from top to down respectively are: Ergaula capucina, Blattella lituricollis, Blattella germanica, Symploce pallens, Pycnoscelus surinamensis, Blatta orientalis, Periplaneta americana, Periplaneta fuliginosa, Shelfordella lateralis, Eremoblatta subdiaphana, and Polypahaga aegyptica.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
The neighbor-joining tree for mtDNA-COII sequences of some representative species of four known cockroach families. Except for Polyphaga sp, sequence data of other species were retrieved from Genbank. The line underneath shows the genetic distance scale
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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