Plectoptera sp. 3

Lu, Wenhua, Valentine, Barry D., Perez-Gelabert, Daniel E. & Gutiérrez, Esteban, 2014, Ecology and Diversity of Cockroaches (Dictyoptera: Blattaria) from the Virgin Islands, Insecta Mundi 2014 (349), pp. 1-32 : 20

18. Plectoptera sp. 3 , NEW RECORD

Diagnosis. Female adult 4 mm, very small, pale brown, delicate, abnormally shriveled, not completely sclerotized, with full tegmina; pronotum transparent, minutely aspirate with scattered long setae; tegmina transparent, venation obsolete, cells lacking any complex reticulum as in Plectoptera rhabdota (Species 17), with widely scattered long setae; abdomen and cerci more uniformly brown than those of congeners.

Comments. This unique specimen is a newly emerged adult that has shrunk; it was found by sweeping and beating bushes along the roadside to Sage Mountain, Tortola ( Table 1). It is different from but closely related to Plectoptera dorsalis ( Burmeister 1838) described from Puerto Rico. This is the first record of a third Plectoptera species for the Virgin Islands; Roth (1994) reported but did not differentiate two undetermined species from Tortola. We also found other specimens different from this Plectoptera sp. 3 , P. infulata (Species 16), and P. rhabdota (Species 17). The generic placement of this taxon is tentative; further study is required.

Specimen examined. BDVC — 1 female, BVI, Tortola Is., Sage Mt. 14.X.1993, C. R. Bartlett & J. R. Cryan.