Latiblattella inornata Hebard 1920

Latiblattella inornata new species (Plate II, figure 21.)
Related to L. pavida (Rehn),"*^ agreeing in the immaculate coloration and general character of the male subgenital plate; differing in the smaller size, immaculate inter-ocular-ocellar area and, in the male, in the shorter and decidedly heavier styles, with more slender internal process at base of sinistral style, w^hich is nearly as long as that style and reaches nearly to its apex,** and in the mesal produced portion of the subgenital plate which is not curled upward along the distal margin.
Type. — cf ; Rio Bejuco, Panama. (W. Schaus.) [United States National Museum.]
Size and form slightly less ample than in any of the described species of Latiblattella. Head with interocular space approximately two-thirds as wide as that between the antennal sockets; inter-ocular-ocellar area distinctly flattened; ocelli distinct. Maxillary palpi with third and fifth (distal) joints elongate, each decidedly longer than fourth joint. Pronotum with angles broadly rounded; point of greatest width meso-caudad; caudal margin very feebly convex, truncate. Tegmina with numerous discoidal sectors (twelve) weakly oblique to caudal margin. Wings with costal veins scarcely enlarged distad.
*'' The insufficient descriptions, applicable to but one sex of the two described as vitrea by Brunner and to chichimeca and maya of Saussure and Zchntner, leave us in no doubt as to their being members of Latiblattella, but in complete ignorance as far as the most important specific diagnostic characters are concerned. All are apparently distinctly heavier species than inornata, as is true also for alaris Saussure and Zehntner, which, from the description, can not be generically assigned without considerable doubt.
*^ In pavida, this process is only slightly more than half as long as the sinistral style.
Abdomen with proximal dorsal segments unspecialized; sixth with a semicircular mesal area, formed cephalad by a convex ridge and laterad by the weakly convex margins of very suddenly and deeply impressed longitudinal areas, caudad of the cephalic ridge is a narrow, transverse, feebly obtuse-angulate plate, with free caudal margin supplied with a few hairs, caudad of this the median portion of the specialized area is raised in a large blunt process, with lateral margins concave and divergent caudad and dorsal surface clothed with a heavy tuft of hairs radiating cephalad, caudad of this the narrow distal portion of the segment is subchitinous in texture, the caudal margin transverse, but with latero-caudal angles moderately acuteangulate produced, with apex bluntly rounded; seventh segment longitudinally brief, transversely moderately constricted; eighth segment much the same, but with caudal margin sinuous.
Supra-anal plate transverse, triangularly weakly produced, with apex broad and briefly bilobate. Concealed genitalia: soft integument almost completely fills the anal chamber, from which projects mesad a short, flattened, chitinous lobe, with surface microscopically shagreenous and with disto-dextral angle produced in a short spine, which curves feebly sinistrad at its sharp apex; ventrad of this process the integument is produced in a straight, elongate process, tapering evenly to the acute apex, with dextral margin subchitinous. Dextrad, beneath the dextral cercus, an elongate, lanceolate, chitinous process extends meso-caudad, with surface heavily clothed with a microscopic velvety pile. Subgenital plate not large, somewhat asymmetrical ; brief lateral margins convex to bases of heavy, elongate, inset styles, between which the brief and delicate meso-caudal portion of the plate is deplanate, weakly produced with free margin weakly convex. Styles stout, elongate, flattened cylindrical, convergent, with immediate apices rounded and curved outward and supplied with a few hairs; dextral style considerably larger than sinistral. Mesad, at base of sinistral style, a moderately stout, flattened cylindrical process curves mesad, thence nearly straight caudad, with immediate apex rounded, not enlarged and curving sinistrad, the median portion with dorsal surface feebly convex and ventral surface deplanate, the ventral margins thus formed microscopically serrate. Limbs and their armament, character of pulvilli and arolia, typical for the genus." Tarsal claws of unequal length, as characteristic for the genus, elongate and slender, the shorter extending well beyond the moderately well developed arolium.
Allotype.— 9 i'^" Steamship Tenadores, en route New York to Jamaica. October 19, 1913(Hebard; alive in hold.) [Hebard Collection.]
Agrees with type, except in the following features. Form decidedly broader, pronotum more ample. Tegmina and wings distinctly less elongate, but extending well beyond the cereal apices. Dorsal surface of abdomen unspecialized. Supra60 This specimen was very probably taken on at Bocas del Tore, Panama, or Limon, Costa Rica, as these were the ports at which fruit had last been loaded. anal plate moderately triangularly produced, with lateral margins feebly concave, deeply concave emarginate at apex. Subgenital plate rather strongly convex, very feebly fissate meso-distad, free margin in large part convex, showing a broad but feeble concavity at the point of extrusion of the cerci.
The female sex is very similar to that of L. pavida, distinguishable only by the immaculate cephalic coloration and the less ample, narrower pronotum.
General coloration of type bufYy, tinged with buckthorn brown. Head ochraceous-buff, ocelli paler, eyes blackish brown. Pronotum, with disk ochraceousbuff mottled with buckthorn brown, with a few symmetrically placed but weakly defined dots of prout's brown; margins transparent, ery weakly tinged with buckthorn brown. Tegmina transparent, weakly tinged with buckthorn brown. Wings hyaline, showing a very feeble iridescence, distal area of anterior field weakly tinged with buckthorn brown. Body and limbs light ochraceous-buff shading to ochraceous-bufT, the dorsal surface of the abdomen tinged laterad with buckthorn brown, mesal specialization of sixth segment cinnamon brown with hairs tawny.
The female is generally similar in coloration. The general coloration shows a slightly more tawny tinge, the disk of the pronotum being more tawny with fewer dark dots.^' The dorsal surface of the abdomen is more heavily and extensively suffused, mummy brown distad, the lateral margins narrowly outlined in light ochraceous-buff.
Measurements (in millimeters)
Length of CT body
Type 13 Allotype 10 3.3 4.6 II. 4 3.8
The pair is unique.