Symplocodes ridleyi
Creators: name: Zheng, Yuhong
name: Wang, Chenchen
name: Che, Yanli
name: Wang, Zongqing
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2015
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Blattodea
Ectobiidae
Symplocodes
Symplocodes ridleyi

description: Symplocodes ridleyi (Shelford, 1912)
(Figures 1G, H, 6A – M, 8M – O, 9A – C, 10A – B)
Hemithyrsocera ridleyi Shelford, 1912: 660.
Symplocodes ridleyi: Hebard, 1929: 75; Roth, 1995: 996.
Symplocodes secunda Princis, 1957: 148, 152. Synonymized by Princis, 1971: 1130. Symplocodes brachialis Feng et Guo, 1990: 339. Syn. nov.
Material examined
Three males (holotype and paratypes of Symplocodes brachialis), China, Yunnan Prov., Xishuangbanna, 850 m, 29 May 1986, coll. PZ Feng; one male, China, Yunnan Prov., Xishuangbanna, Jinghong, 650 m, 12 July 1958, coll. XW Meng; one male, China, Yunnan Prov., Xishuangbanna, Xiaomengyang, 850 m, 18 August 1958, coll. XW Meng; one male, China, Yunnan Prov., Xishuangbanna, Xiaomengyang, 850 m, 4 September 1958, coll. XW Meng; one male, China, Yunnan Prov., Xishuangbanna, Xiaomengyang, 850 m, August 1958, coll. YR Zhang; one male, China, Yunnan Prov., Xishuangbanna, Mengla, 650 m, 18 May 1982, coll. GT Jin; three males, China, Yunnan Prov., Xishuangbanna, Jinghong, 650 m, 3 March 1958, coll. CP Hong; three males, China, Yunnan Prov., Xishuangbanna, Xiaomengyang, 850 m, 27 – 29 August 1958, coll. Xuwu Meng; one male, China, Yunnan Prov., Xishuangbanna, Xiaomengyang, 850 m, 21 August 1958, coll. LY Zheng; one male, China, Yunnan Prov., Xishuangbanna, Menghun, 750 m, 5 June 1958, coll. XW Meng; one male, China, Yunnan Prov., Daluo, 650 m, 31 May 1991, coll. GC Liu and WZ Cai; one male, China, Yunnan Prov., Mohan, 8 August 2009, coll. ZQ Wang; two males and one female, China, Yunnan Prov., Menglun, 1 August 2009, coll. ZQ Wang; two males, China, Yunnan Prov., Menglun, Green Stone Forest Park, 3 August 2009, coll. ZQ Wang; one male and one female, China, Yunnan Prov., Menglun, 31 July 2009, coll. ZQ Wang; one male and one female, China, Yunnan Prov., Mohan, 7 August 2009, coll. ZQ Wang; two females, China, Yunnan Prov., Mohan, 8 August 2009, coll. ZQ Wang; two males, China, Yunnan Prov., Dadugang, 12 August 2009, coll. ZQ Wang; six males and three females, China, Yunnan Prov., Jinghong, Dadugang, 1299 m, 27 April 2014. coll. XR Li and HG Liu. (SWU)
Redescription
Length, male, overall length including tegmen: 13.5 – 16.0 mm; pronotum length × width: 2.1 – 2.9 mm × 3.5 – 4.0 mm; tegmen length: 12.0 – 12.5 mm. Female, overall length including tegmen: 14.1 – 15.2 mm; pronotum length × width: 3.5 – 4.0 mm × 4.0 – 4.3 mm; tegmen length: 10.1 – 10.3 mm.
Body medium, yellowish brown (Figure 1G). Vertex brown. Ocellar spot yellowish white. Antennae blackish brown with base yellowish brown. Fifth maxillary palpomere brown with apex yellowish white, the others yellowish white (Figure 1H). Pronotum yellowish brown, with one dark brown curved stripe on each lateral corner (Figures 1G, 6D). Tegmina yellowish brown, hind wings hyaline and pale brown. Second through seventh abdominal terga with disc blackish brown, sterna yellowish brown and lateral borders with black irregular maculae (Figure 1H).
Vertex with interocular space less than distance between antennal sockets (Figure 6A). Fourth and third maxillary palpomeres about same length, and both slightly longer than the fifth (Figure 6B). Pronotum subelliptical, broadest width behind the middle (Figure 6D). Tegmina and hind wings well developed, entirely covering abdomen (Figure 1G). Tegmen with eight anterior rami of radius and 11 apical rami of radius, one of apical rami with secondary divisions; median and cubitus veins longitudinal, the former with two complete branches and the latter with four complete branches (Figure 6E). R1 of hind wing with branches, anterior rami of radius absent; median and cubitus veins weakly curved, the former simple and cubitus vein with one small complete branch originating near the apical margin, incomplete branch absent (Figure 6F). Front femur Type A3 (Figure 6C), pulvilli on four proximal tarsomeres (Figure 9A – C); tarsal claws symmetrical, distinctly dentate (Figure 8M – O). Seventh abdominal tergum specialized, with a pair of oblique ridges converging at posterior margin of sixth segment (visible in pinned specimen); the centre hyaline, with a scattered group of minute setae (Figure 6G).
Supra-anal plate (Figure 6H, I) symmetrical, with hind margin slightly concave in the middle; intercercal processes large and similar, with three to five spinous processes near apex; paraprocts dissimilar, the left one with an acute sclerotized process, the right one irregular. Subgenital plate (Figure 6J) in dorsal view obviously asymmetrical, the posterolateral corners bearing protrusions, of which the right one narrow, sinuous, and fingerlike, with long setae at apex; the left one unevenly broader, with apex broadly rounded and without seta; posterior margin convex, with a group of long setae, and on left margin a robust process bearing a row of small spines apically; a curved structure with setae at apex near left posterior margin. Right stylus conical, left stylus absent. Male genitalia with sclerotized portion of L3 (Figure 6K) short and without pre-apical incision; L2vm (Figure 6L) slender, rod-like, with apex acute and with filamentous branch near apical third; R2 (Figure 6M) pyriform, with a slim sclerite at the margin; R3 (Figure 6M) with two obvious sclerites, one of which is rod-like and broadened at one apex, the other curved.
Female similar to male. Subgenital plate simple with hind margin rounded.
Remarks
Feng and Guo (1990) established S. brachialis based only on morphological characters. Roth (1995) examined the type specimen of S. ridleyi and redescribed it in detail. We find that S. brachialis bears a strong resemblance to S. ridleyi in terms of morphology and male genitalia except for the amount of spine-like processes at the apical intercercal processes. There are three to four spine-like processes in S. brachialis from China, while Roth (1995) described four to five in S. ridleyi. But we find this variation to be intraspecific and too variable to be of use in specific diagnostics. Consequently, S. brachialis is designated a junior synonym of S. ridleyi.
Distribution
China (Yunnan); Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia.
description: Published as part of Zheng, Yuhong, Wang, Chenchen, Che, Yanli & Wang, Zongqing, 2015, The species of Symplocodes Hebard (Blattodea: Ectobiidae: Blattellinae) with description of a new species from China, pp. 339-361 in Journal of Natural History 50 on pages 350-352, DOI: 10.1080/00222933.2015.1079337, http://zenodo.org/record/3992080