2 1 8 
Psyche 
[September 
craniifer , giganteus , parabolicus , atropos , and discoidalis. In addition 
I have examined the genitalia of museum specimens of these species 
as well as those of B. colosseus (Illiger), B. brasilianus Saussure, B. 
minor Saussure, B. fusiformis Walker, B. scutatus Saussure and 
Zehntner, B. anisitsi Brancsik, and B. boliviensis Princis. Of the 14 
Blaberus listed by Princis (1963), assellus (Thunb.) and latissimus 
(Herbst) were described from nymphs and are questionable species. 
For reasons given below, I consider Blaberus colosseus , which Hebard 
(1921) synonymized with B. giganteus, a valid species and B. trape- 
zoid eus a synonym of B. craniifer. 
As suggested by Princis (1946) the tips of the abdomens of dried 
specimens were dipped in hot water for about a minute, or the speci- 
mens were placed in a relaxing chamber. Once softened, the ab- 
domen was slit along the lateral membranes and the genitalia were 
removed usually without serious damage to the subgenital or supra 
anal plates. All specimens were treated with 10% KOH, cleared, 
and mounted in Permount. The hooked right phallomeres were 
mounted ventral side up and phallomeres Li and L2d were mounted 
dorsal side uppermost. The preparations of the prepuce were spread 
and flattened to show the spines. This should be taken into account 
when examining the illustrations. Normally the prepuce partly en- 
velopes L2d (see Fig. 12 1 in McKittrick’s 1964 monograph which 
illustrates the folding of the prepuce in B. discoidalis) . 
Although the principal genitalic characters used are L2d and the 
prepuce, I have also included photographs of R2 and Li for compara- 
tive purposes. Although these 2 phallomeres are very similar or have 
minor differences in all species of Blaberus (Figs. 1-24) they show 
family or subfamily differences and their inclusion should be useful in 
future studies of the genitalia of Blaberidae. 
Wherever known I have given locality data for the illustrated 
specimens, and the identity of the entomologist who determined the 
species. The abbreviations for the sources of this material are as 
follows (original geographical source, if known, follows the abbre- 
viations in the explanation of figures) : (N) = Natick culture; 
(ANSP) — Academy Natural Sciences, Philadelphia; (MCZ) = 
Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University; (L) — 
Zoological Institute, Lund, Sweden; (AMNH) = American Mu- 
seum of Natural History; (USNM) = United States National 
Museum; (BMNH) = British Museum (Natural History). Slides 
of genitalia are deposited with their respective males in the above 
museums. 
