Family POLYPHAGIDAE
Compiler and date details
A.M.E. Roach & D.C.F. Rentz, CSIRO Entomology, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Introduction
Many non-Australian polyphagids are quite robust wingless species, but Australian polyphagids are small delicate cockroaches that are often encountered at light traps. They characterised by having the anal area of the wing not folded fan-like in repose. They often have a postclypeal swelling on the frons. Nothing is known of their natural history.
In the Australian fauna, two species in the subfamily Tiviinae are recognised and three species in unplaced genera—Grandcolas (1994) determined that the two genera, Austropolyphaga and Polyphagoides, do not belong to the Polyphaginae, but no new sub-family placement has been published.
References
Grandcolas, P. 1994. Phylogenetic systematics of the subfamily Polyphaginae, with the assignment of Cryptocercus Scudder, 1862 to this taxon (Blattaria, Blaberoidea, Polyphagidae). Systematic Entomology 19: 145–158