Plectoptera poeyi (Saussure 1862)

Plectoptera floridana new species (Plate X, figures 9 to 12.)
All of the material here considered, with the exception of the
first specimen listed, has been recorded by Rehn and Hebard as
Plectoptera poeyi (Saussure), a distinct but related Cuban species.*" The present insect is distinct from the other forms of the genus
in the combination of size, head marking, general coloration and
character of male subgenital plate.
Type. — cf ; Key West, F'lorida. January 19, 1904. (M. Hebard.)
[Hebard Collection Type no. 434.]
Description of Typc.^'^^ — Size ery small, medium for the genus. Head with width about equal to length: interocular space broad, but distincth" less than the very broad space between the antennal sockets, interocular si)ace with a narrow, distinct, dark, transverse band. Pronotum and tcgmina immaculate. Wings very delicate, broader than in P. porccllaua,'^^'-' with eins not consi)icuously dark-
^^^ A series of fifty-nine West Indian specimens of the genus, representing numerous species, is now before us and enables us to determine these facts.
'5* Many characters are given in the generic description which do not show even slight differences in the species of the present genus.
^*' Of which species, a series of Cuban specimens is before us.
ened; branches of axillary vein without transverse connecting veinlets; appendicular field ample. Dorsal surface of abdomen with sixth segment showing mesoproximad a very weakly defined, circular area, supplied with minute, microscopic, agglutinated hairs, which lie flat and are directed caudad.^^o Supra-anal plate triangularly produced, length nearly equal to one-half of width; lateral margins convergent and feebly concave to the blunt apex. Cerci simple, flattened; joints weakly defined, ^^ distal joints tapering sharply to the acuminate apex. Subgenital plate small; free lateral margins concave-convergent to the median area, which is subquadrate emarginate; the basal margin of this emargination (the meso-distal portion of the free margin of the plate) triangularly produced to an acute apex, with sides feebly convex, this production longer than broad; at the lateral bases of this production are found the slender, flattened, cylindrical (but broadened proximad) styles, which are laterally joined to the lateral portions of the plate, excepting distad, at their rounded apices, which are directed caudo-laterad and are supplied with a few, minute, chitinous spines, these apices project slightly beyond the acuteangulate, sharply rounded apices of the lateral portions of the plate and well beyond the acute apex of the mesal production. The styles are of similar form and equal length. Armament of limbs and character of puhilli, arolia and tarsal claws as given in generic description.
Allotype. — 9 ; same data as type. [Hebard Collection.]
Description of Allotype. — Very similar to male, dift'ering in the following characters. Interocular space slightly broader, nearly equal to that between the antennal sockets. Dorsal surface of abdomen unspecialized. Supra-anal plate generally similar, but with apex distinctly emarginate, the projections thus formed broadly rounded; the plate with a medio-longitudinal sulcation feebly suggested. Subgenital plate large and broad, very feebly convex, the very large mesal section subdeplanate; lateral margins briefly and weakly convex, parallel, then rounding into the very broad, transverse distal portion, which laterad, at bases of cerci, is broadly and shallowly, but distinctly, concave, the intervening portion of the distal margin broad, nearly straight, very feebly convex; along this margin the plate curves slightly upward.
Measurements {in millimeters)

Plectoptera poeyi, commonly known as the Florida beetle roach or Florida beetle cockroach, is a species of cockroach in the family Ectobiidae. It is found in North America, and the Caribbean.