Symploce pallens (Stephens 1835)

Symploce lita Hebard (Plate II, figures 16 to 20.)
1916. Symploce lita Hebard, Trans. Am. Ent. Soc, xlii, p. 357, pi. X'II, fig. 8, pi. XVIII, figs. I, 2, 3 and 4. [cf ■ 9 ; records listed in present paper.]
The characters given above to separate the present genus from Ischnoptera and ParcoblaUa, readily separate males of the present species from those of any other found over the regions at present under consideration. In the present genus this species is anomalous in the males having the median segment unspecialized and the supra-anal plate, subgenital plate and styles of an entirely different type from those of the males of the other species of the genus.
In the female the tegmina are decidedly reduced, subquadrate, with characters of venation obliterated; thus differing widely from the other known species of the genus, the females of all of which have the tegmina fully developed. This tegminal reduction in the present species gives females a distinct, though superficial, resemblance to females of Parcoblatta virginica.
Type. — cT ; Key West, Florida. July 4, 1912. (AI. Hebard.) [Hebard Collection, Type Xo. 423.]
Description of Type. — Very similar in general structure to 5. jamaicana, size medium small, slightly larger than in that species; form moderateK' slender, as in jamaicana; slightly more slender than in .S". capitata. Head with eyes large, larger than in jamaicana or capitata. Interocular space three-fifths as wide as interocellar space. Ocelli distinct, with surfaces flat and almost perpendicular to the plane of the interocellar area, their margins there shar])Krounded. Maxiliarpalpi with third and fifth (distal) joints subequal in length, fourth joint slightly shorter. Pronotum of same form as in capitata but proportionately deeper. Tegmina and wings fully developed, as given in generic description, structure of same very delicate. Median segment unspecialized. Sixth dorsal abdominal segment with two moderately deep, small, meso-proximal depressions, between which it is
triangularly raised with apex proximad, this portion thickly clothed with hairs, caudal margin of segment rather strongly concave; seventh segment concealed, except narrowly Jaterad; eighth segment with narrow distal portion exposed, distal margin strongly concave. Supra-anal plate transverse, not extending to distal extremity of subgenital plate, lateral margins strongly convergent and rounding into the broadly trans-erse mesal portion, lateral margins furnished with a well spaced row of minute, chitinous spines. Cerci slender, lateral margins crenate, with eleven and twelve distinct joints, dorsal surface flattened, ventral surface convex. Subgenital plate weakly produced, asymmetrical; dextral free margin produced oblique, nearly straight but strongly upcurved to just beyond mesal point, there supplied with a minute, stout projection (style), with apex flat and margin slightly produced sinistrad, at the dextral base of which is a sharp, chitinous, curved spine of equal length, sinistrad of this point the margin is sharply and briefly concave, from which springs a projection (style) which is over twice as long but more slender than the dextral style, curved dextrad, with apex tapering and armed meso-distad with two minute, chitinous spines, beyond this the sinistral portion of the free margin is straight, transverse. Limbs and armament of same as given in generic description.
Allotype. — 9 ;^^' San Jose del Cabo, Lower California. Mexico. [Hebard Collection.]
Description of Female. — Similar to tpe in ambisexual characters, differing very decidedly in the following features. Head with eyes distinctly smaller; interocular space very broad, slightly broader than space between antennal sockets. Ocelli weakly defined, with ocellar area not as deep as in male and rounding more evenly into interocellar area. Pronotum with caudal margin very weakly angulatoproduced.2*8 Tegmina greatly reduced, subrectangulate, transversely truncate at apex of anal field, with a weak concavity in discoidal field, distal angle on costal margin broadly rounded, distal angle on sutural margin rectangulate and sharply rounded, sutural margins straight and overlapping. Wings shorter than tegmina, greatly atrophied, but with anterior and posterior fields still defined. Supra-anal plate triangularly produced; lateral margins nearly straight, very weakly and broadly concave; apex blunt, but evenly rounded. Subgenital plate convex, very weakly produced, with free margin weakly convex, except at base of cerci, where a very weak, broad concavity is apparent.
The remaining males and females from Lower California show scarcely any variation in structure from those described.
-■"■The present species is domiciliary and apparently widely distributed through the North American tropics.
^^^ This is another case of the caudal margin of the pronotum showing truncation in the sex exhil)iting reduction in the organs of flight. Measurements {in millimeters)
-^ Length of Length of Width of Length of Width of
^ body pronolum pronotum tegmen tegmen

Symploce pallens es una especie de cucaracha del género Symploce, familia Ectobiidae.​