Mihailo Vujić‡, Nikola Vesović§Corresponding author: Mihailo Vujić ( mihailovujic01@gmail.com ) Academic editor: Elena Iulia Iorgu © Mihailo Vujić, Nikola Vesović. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Citation:
Vujić M, Vesović N (2022) The first arrival of the Chinese sand roach Polyphaga cf. plancyi (Blattodea: Corydiidae) in Europe. Travaux du Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle “Grigore Antipa” 65(2): 163-172. https://doi.org/10.3897/travaux.65.e97208 |  |
Polyphaga plancyi Bolívar, 1883, also known as Chinese sand roach, it is a large Corydiidae species with a native distribution that includes several Chinese provinces and southern part of the Russian Far East. It is a well-known insect in traditional Chinese medicine, and the biological activity of the compounds isolated from it are actively studied. So far, there are no records of this species outside its natural range, at least outside China. In this article, we present the first record of P. cf. plancyi specimen collected in Europe, probably imported from Shanghai. The specimen was recognized as a non-native cockroach species to Europe via photo posted on social media, and it was subsequently taxonomically identified. Details of its possible origin, its morphology, importance of citizen science, as well as annotations on the other synanthropic cockroaches in Serbia are provided.