Aglaopteryx gemma Hebard 1917

Aglaopteryx gemma new species (Plate I, figures 9 to 12.)
The present species has been incorrectly recorded as "Ceratinoptera' diaphana'° to which it is closely allied; it is found to differ from that insect, however, in the anchor shaped, not transverse, bar of the dark marking in the pronotal disk; the more reduced and sharply truncate tegmina; absence of wings; dorsal surface of abdomen beautifully maculate with blackish brown, pale red-
" Aglaopterym diaphana (Fabricius)
1792. B[latta] diaphana Fabricius, Ent. Syst., ii. p. II. [Islands of South America (West Indies).]
Ceratinoptera diaphana of Brunner and subsequent authors.
This species has been recorded by various authors from the West Indies; all records from the United States by Rehn and Hebard and by Davis (excepting that from Big Pine Key, Florida, which was based on an immature example of Latiblattella rehni) apply to A. gemma.
In this species the bar of the dark marking in the pronotal disk is normally transverse; the tegmina are reduced, extending slightly beyond, to falling distinctly short of, the apex of the abdomen, but never truncate distad; the wings are present but reduced; the dorsal surface of the abdomen is normally very dark, narrowly margined with buffy; the male subgenital plate is distinctive. This plate is small, convex, irregularly produced, with two large, irregular concavities mesad on the distal margin, occupied by broad styles; the sinistral a brief lobe, broader than long; the dextral large and flattened, with mesal extremity produced in an elongate finger, about three times as long as broad, with tapering but blunt apex directed sinistrad; mesad between the styles the plate is briefly and narrowly produced, this almost equal in length to the sinistral style, while between this and the dextral style is situated an elongate, slender, chitinous, almost straight, sharply pointed projection, extending as far distad as sinistral style. The cephalic femora have the ventro-cephalic margin with distal spines even more elongate than in gemma, two or three in number; the ventro-caudal margin is often supplied with other spines beside the distal one.
These observations are based on the following material now before us.
Paget West, Bermuda, I, 2 to V, 17, 1909, (F. M. Jones), 30^, 3?. i juv. <f^, 2 juv. ?, 2 very small juv. 9, [A. N. S. P. and Hebard Cln.].
Hamilton, Bermuda, II, 24, 1910, (E. G. Vanatta), i very small juv. cf , [A. N. S. P.].
Mona Island, Porto Rico, II, 21 to 26, 1914, (in a dead branch, ten feet above ground), I juv. ?, [Am. IVIus. Nat. Hist.].
Montcgo Bay, Jamaica, X, 29, 1913, (Hebard; in bromeliad on forest tree with Nyctihora laevigata and numerous Carihlatta insidaris), i 9 , [Hebard Cln.].
Long Ditton, Dominica, VI, 19, 1911, (Crampton and Lutz), i9, [Am. Mus. Nat. Hist.].
Easy Hall, Barbados, IX, 24, 1902, (H. M. Lefroy), i 9 , [A. N. S. P.].
Of this material, the specimen from Jamaica is small and has no markings within the pronotal disk, (hat from Dominica is unusually large, while tiiat from Barbados has the proportionately longest tegmina of the scries.
dish brown and huffy; very different and more decidedly specialized male subgenital plate and styles, and caudal margin of cephalic femora, which arc armed only with a single distal spine.
Type. — cf ; Mobile, Alabama. August 26, 1915. (Rehn and Hebard.) [Hebard Collection, Type no. 419.]
Description of Type. — Size small, form rather broad, structure very delicate. Head as given in generic description; interocular space broad but distinctly narrower than the very broad interantcnnal space; ocellar spots very weakly defined. Maxillary palpi with third and fifth (distal) joints subequal in length, fourth slightly shorter. Pronotum with cephalic margin transverse, lateral margins broadly convex and moderately divergent caudad, caudal margin transverse, very weakly convex mesad and very weakly conca'e meso-laterad; cephalic angles very broadly rounded obtuse-angulate, caudal angles rather broadly rounded and nearly rectangulate. Exposed portion of tegmina subquadrate, longer than wide, but extending only slightly beyond margin of first dorsal abdominal segment; costal margin very broadly and evenly rounding, at slightly more than a right angle, to sutural margin, which is nearly straight, angle at sutural margin sharply rounded, rectangulate. Seventh and eighth dorsal abdominal segments very narrow and with only caudal margins showing. Supra-anal plate small, transverse, triangularly produced, with lateral margins weakly concave and apex truncate. Cerci not very elongate, twelve jointed, tapering rather sharply distad to acute apex, deplanate above, convex below with decidedly narrow, flattened lateral margins. A mass of subchitinous tissue fills the proximal portion of the anal chamber, from which project mesad, from a chitinous base, two minute, chitinous spines, directed dorsad and curing weakly dextro-caudad. Subgenital plate convex, distad with surface divided into two convex portions terminating in broad sockets, in these rest the very broad and short styles," which are almost completely fused with the plate; sinistral style, a low rounded ridge seeral times as broad as long and not projecting beyond the lateral margin of the plate; dextral style, a thick, corneous, rounded projection, on the inner margin about twice, on the outer three times, as long as wide, straight, directed diagonally mesad, with apex blunt and not narrowing; this style is strongly concave within and could almost be termed hollow, while in this orifice is situated a moderately stout, chitinous projection, about twice as long as broad, the blunt apex of which does not project beyond the apex of the style; between the styles the brief mesal portion of the distal margin of the plate is weakly and irregularly produced." Limbs and armament of same as given in generic description. Yentro-caudal margin of cephalic femora with only a single spine, this situated distad.
■*' The simple styles in immature males of the present species are heavier than those in the corresponding instars of diapliana.
*^ This development is evidently a decidedly greater siiecialization of structures homologous to those found in diaphaua.
Allotype.— 9 ; same data as type. [Hebard Collection.]
Description of AIlotvpe.-Agvees with type except in the following features Size slightly larger, "form slightly broader. Supra-anal plate very slightly larger than in male, with lateral margins a little less concave, mesad deeply and narrowly cleft for half its length. Subgenital plate ample and convex, little produced and decidedly broader than long; free margin convex, but very weakly concave at cerci.
Measurements {in millimeters)
Length of Length of Width of Length of Width of