Labidurinae Verhoeff, 1902 3 genera 35 species Cosmopolitan Type: Labidura: Labidura riparia – Typus in University of Copenhagen Zoological Museum, Copenhagen (Denmark)
Forcipula Bolívar, 1897 -> Forcipula abbreviata Srivastava, 1986 – India: Arunachal Pradesh, West Bengal and Sikkim -> Forcipula aborensis Brindle, 1966 – India: Arunachal Pradesh, Tibet, Yunnan, Myanmar -> Forcipula afghana Steinmann, 1980 – Afghanistan, India, Nepal -> Forcipula americana de Bormans, 1900 – Bolivia, Peru, Colombia -> Forcipula banksi Borelli, 1915 – Philippines -> Forcipula baoshana Chen, 2025 – Yunnan -> Forcipula borellii Chopard, 1924 – India: Assam, Meghalaya and Sikkim -> Forcipula caussaneli Waller, Jamet & Albouy, 1996 – Mauritania -> Forcipula clavata Liu, 1946 – Myanmar?, Laos, Southern and Eastern China -> Forcipula congo Burr, 1900 – Central Africa (Congo, Nigeria, Cameroon, Zambia...) -> Forcipula decolyi de Bormans, 1900 – India, Bhutan, Nepal and South China to New Guinea -> Forcipula despinosa Hebard, 1917 – North India -> Forcipula elongata Srivastava, 1986 – India: Tamil Nadu, Kerala -> Forcipula gariazzi Borelli, 1900 – Tropical Africa (Tanzania, Ghana, Chad, Congo, Cameroon, Gabon), Sudan, Egypt (Lake Nasser) -> Forcipula indica Brindle, 1966 – India: Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Sikkim and Andhra Pradesh, Bhutan -> Forcipula leonardii Steinmann, 1981 – Andamana Island (doubtful species according to Srivastava, holotype was a female, possibly of L. riparia) -> Forcipula lurida Bolívar, 1897 – India:Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Assam, Sri Lanka -> Forcipula obscura Steinmann, 1980 – India: Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya, China: Chongqing, Vietnam -> Forcipula quadrispinosa (Dohrn, 1863) – Réunion, Mauritius, Pakistan, India, Bhutan, Sri Lanka to Southern China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Philippines and Java -> Forcipula quelchi Burr, 1904 – Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana -> Forcipula simplex Bey-Bienko, 1970 – North India -> Forcipula tanganyikae Hincks, 1957 – Tanzania, Chad, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Uganda, Nigeria, Liberia -> Forcipula tarsata (Westwood, 1857) – Philippines -> Forcipula trispinosa (Dohrn, 1863) – Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, China: Yunnan, Hainan -> Forcipula tuberculata Srivastava, 1977 – India: Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, West Bengal and Orissa -> Forcipula vanheurni Boeseman, 1954 – Java -> Forcipula walkeri (Kirby, 1896) – Hongkong, Guangxi -> Forcipula yunnanea Bey-Bienko, 1970 – Yunnan Labidura Leach, 1815 -> Labidura dharchulensis Gangola, 1968 – India -> Labidura japonica (de Haan, 1842) – Japan, Korea, China, India, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, New Guinea -> Labidura minor Boeseman, 1954 – Sumatra -> Labidura orientalis Steinmann, 1979 – Nepal, India: Bihar -> Labidura riparia (Pallas, 1773) – Cosmopolitan -> Labidura truncata Kirby, 1903 – Australia -> Labidura xanthopus (Stål, 1855) – South America Tomopygia Burr, 1904 -> Tomopygia abnormis (de Bormans, 1883) – Java
Labidura is a taxonomically very complicated genus, so here are explanations for the species list in this forum:
Labidura herculeana Fabricius, 1798 (St. Helena) was officially announced to be extinct by IUCN, more about this topic here: List of possibly extinct species
Labidura cryptera Liu, 1946 (India according to Steinmann and Chongqing according to Srivastava), Labidura elegans Liu, 1946 (India according to Steinmann and Sichuan according to Srivastava) and Labidura orientalis Steinmann, 1979 (Nepal, India: Bihar) were synonymised with Labidura riparia in Srivastava (2003) Fauna of India. Part II. However, on iNaturalist two observations with Labidura orientalis were uploaded, the species differs in terms of external morphology massively from L. riparia: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?taxon_id=1591885 I will therefore not follow Srivastava in this list. Srivastava states, Labidura cryptera and Labidura (?) elegans were described by nymphs and there appear to be no morphological differences. For L. orientalis Srivastava states: "Steinmann (1979b) described Labidura orientalis from Nepal on a male. It was mainly differentiated by the absence of two spines on the hind margin of ultimate tergite. This character is variable in the samples of a large population. For this reason this species is considered as a synonym." However, in Steinmann (1989) many differences were shown, like the forceps, antennae, pronotum and others. The two spines, which are also important in L. japonica and L. truncata, are NOT the only difference given.
Kamimura et al. (2023) treated L. riparia as only species in Japan, thus treating L. japonica as a synonym (https://bdj.pensoft.net/article/107001/list/9/), however, L. japonica differs from L. riparia morphologically by the absence of paired teeth on the caudal margin of the posterior tergite and the male genital. Matzke treates both species as valid, with having both species in my own collection I would agree. Dermaptera Species File treats it as subspecies L. riparia japonica, following de Bormans & Krauss 1900, Moon & Kim 1993 and Kim & Kim 2019: https://dermaptera.speciesfile.org/otus/889995/overview
The type material of Labidura dharchulensis ws lost. Srivastava states: Remarks: According to the original description (Gangola, 1968) the types should be available in the Zoological Museum of Th. D.S.B. Government College, Nainital. On personal enquiry there it is now confirmed they are not present there. On the basis of original descrption and figures this species agrees with smaller forms of L. riparia (Pallas). The figure of male genitalia shows that the distal lobes are flexed forward which perhaps represents the exerted condition of this part. It is not clear wheather the apical portion of preputial sacs is clubbed or that of virga. According to the description it is the former but diagram shows the latter. In any case, if former is taken as correct it may not be of much taxonomic importance since during mounting muscles of preputial sacs often get arranged in various shapes. However, the species is retained as valid for the present pending examination of types.
Many experts believe L. riparia to be the only valid species, maybe it's even a complex of much more species, but since no comparative study with molecular data exists, I will leave the list with several species.
One characteristic, formerly used to separate species, can be discarded: The hind wings. There are apterous and winged forms of L. truncata, L. riparia, L. japonica and maybe others, also winged forms with concealed and full wings.
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Fri Feb 07, 2025 5:38 pm (Last edited: Wed Nov 05, 2025 9:11 pm)
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