MORGAN HEBARD 131 



Ceratinoptera nahua (Saussure) (Figs. 1 and 3.) 



1868. Paraceratinoptera nahua Saussure, Rev. et Mag. Zool., 2e ser., xx, p. 



357. [cf, 9, Cordillera Oriental, Mexico.] 

 1893. Paraceratinoptera dohrniana Saussure and Zehntner, Biol. Cent.- 



Amer., Orth., i, p. 49. [cf, Guatemala.! 



That dohrniana is a synonym of nahua is evident from the 

 description and study of the series now before us, the name being 

 based solely on a specimen showing the fully developed condition 

 of tegmina and wings. Specimens from the same Guatemalan 

 series with reduced tegmina were at the same time recorded as 

 nahua. In the present Mexican material two of three series 

 show both of the above conditions and decided size variation 

 as., ^ell. Brunner's castanea, from Brazil, appears, from the orig- 

 i: ^ 'escription, to be a closely related but distinct species. 



The species is rather small and stout. The ocellar spots are 

 dis-.'inct in specimens having fully developed tegmina, distinct 

 to obsolete in individuals having reduced tegmina.^ The maxil- 

 lary palpi are as in C. yicta. The pronotum is distinctly trans- 

 verse. The tegmina and wings when fully developed are much 

 as in picta, but the area of the dextral tegmen, concealed when at 

 rest, is less suddenly and more gradually defined, while the area 

 embracing the swollen portions of the costal 

 veins of the wings is very weakly suffused. 

 The specialization of the seventh dorsal abdomi- 

 nal segment in the male is as in that sex of pida 

 and the eighth and ninth dorsal abdominal seg- p- 3 Ceratin- 

 ments are also similar. The genitalia are very opt era nahua 

 similar in both species, the supra-anal plate (Saussure). 

 in the female of the present insect has the apex 9 Minatitlan, 

 very slightly angulato-emarginate. The two Mexico. Dorsal 

 species differ distinctly in size and form and con- ^ ^^^ ^,y. ^V^?° 

 spicuously in coloration. 



9 Reduction in the ocelli or the ocellar spots almost always occurs in the 

 Blattidae with reduction in the organs of flight. Ignorance of this fact has in 

 the past often given rise to decided difficulties and in some cases serious mis- 

 takes. 



TRANS. AM. ENT. SOC, XLII. 



