Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 26, 2026

Diploptera

Diploptera, occasionally called beetle cockroaches, is a genus of blaberid cockroaches in the monotypic subfamily Diplopterinae. Cockroaches of this genus resemble beetles, with hardened tegmina and cross-folded hindwings. They live in tropical forests in South China and Southeast Asia, and Pacific islands including Hawaii. They are viviparous cockroaches and are therefore used for insect endocrinological studies.

Last revised
Jul 26, 2026
Read time
≈ 1 min
Length
266 w
Citations
6
Source
Wikipedia ↗
Diploptera
Adult Diploptera punctata
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Clade: Pancrustacea
Class: Insecta
Order: Blattodea
Family: Blaberidae
Subfamily: Diplopterinae
Genus: Diploptera
de Saussure, 1864
Species

See text

Diploptera, occasionally called beetle cockroaches, is a genus of blaberid cockroaches in the monotypic subfamily Diplopterinae. Cockroaches of this genus resemble beetles, with hardened tegmina and cross-folded hindwings. They live in tropical forests in South China and Southeast Asia, and Pacific islands including Hawaii.12 They are viviparous cockroaches and are therefore used for insect endocrinological studies.3

Species

The Cockroach Species File124 lists:

  • Diploptera bicolor Hanitsch, 1925
  • Diploptera elliptica Li & Wang, 2015
  • Diploptera erythrocephala Princis, 1950
  • Diploptera maculata Hanitsch, 1925
  • Diploptera minor (Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1865)
  • Diploptera naevus Li & Wang, 2015
  • Diploptera nigrescens Shiraki, 1931
    • D. n. nigrescens Shiraki, 1931
    • D. n. guani Li & Wang, 2015
  • Diploptera parva Princis, 1953
  • Diploptera punctata (Eschscholtz, 1822) - type species (as Diploptera silpha Saussure)
References

References

  1. Cockroach Species File: genus Diploptera Saussure, 1864 (retrieved 26 October 2023)
  2. Li, X.; Wang, Z. (2015-09-14). "A taxonomic study of the beetle cockroaches (Diploptera Saussure) from China, with notes on the genus and species worldwide (Blattodea: Blaberidae: Diplopterinae)". Zootaxa. 4018 (1): 35–56. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4018.1.2. ISSN 1175-5334. PMID 26624027.
  3. Marchal, Elisabeth; Hult, Ekaterina F.; Huang, Juan; Stay, Barbara; Tobe, Stephen S. (2013). "Diploptera punctata as a model for studying the endocrinology of arthropod reproduction and development". General and Comparative Endocrinology. 188: 85–93. doi:10.1016/j.ygcen.2013.04.018. PMID 23644152.
  4. Li, X.-R.; Li, M.; Wang, Z.-Q. (2017-09-18). "Preliminary molecular phylogeny of beetle cockroaches ( Diploptera ) and notes on male and female genitalia (Blattodea: Blaberidae: Diplopterinae)". Zootaxa. 4320 (3). doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4320.3.7. ISSN 1175-5334.