Green Banana Cockroach

Pycnosceloides aporus Hebard (Plate V, figure 14.)
1919. Pycnosceloides aponisUehard, Trans. Am. Ent. Soc, xlv, p. 300, figs, i and 2.
[9, juv.: Brownsville, Texas; Monte Diablo, California; Orizaba, Motzorongo
and Minatitlan, Vera Cruz, Mexico; material here recorded.]
Porto Bello, Panama, II, 18 and 24, 1911, (Busck), 19,2 juv. 9.
Alhajuela, Pan., IV, 4 to 17, 191 1, (Busck), 2 juv. cf, 5 Juv. 9.
Rio Chilibre, Pan., IV, 14, 191 1, (Busck), i juv. 9.
Rio Trinidad, Pan., V, 4, 191 1, (Busck). 2 juv. cf , i juv. 9 .
Cabima, Pan., V, 22 and 24, 191 1, (Busck), 2 juv. cf , 6 juv. 9 .
Corozal, Canal Zone, Pan., XI, 17, 1913, (Hebard; in jungle under decaying banana stem in which were boring individuals of Litopeltis bispinosa (Saussure) ), 2 juv. 9.
This remarkable genus and species which, at least in the adult females, appears to retain the immature form in full, has recently been fully discussed with the original description. This retention of immature form is a feature hitherto unknown in the Panchlorinae, unless, as there stated, it sometimes occurs in Pycnosceliis siirinamensis Linnaeus).
Close resemblance is shown to individuals of the latter species lacking organs of flight. The present species is distinguished by the distal abdominal segments being similarly roughened, but not to a like degree, and in consequence not as sharply and decidedly in contrast with the remaining polished dorsal surface, while the caudal margins of these segments are more strongly beaded. The limbs are shorter, the ventro-cephalic margin of the cephalic femora with a fringe of hairs, which does not increase considerably in length proximad, while all the ventral femoral margins are without spines, even distad, except the caudal margin of the caudal femora, which bears mesad a single small spine, rarely with another smaller proximal spine. The dorsal genicular spine of the median and caudal femora is slighter. The tarsal claws are more elongate and slender, with a smaller arolium between. The coloration is very similar, blackish brown with a chestnut tinge above, much paler below, with occiput and ocellar areas paler than face. The discovery of the adult male of this species is awaited with interest.

Panchlora cubensis Saussure
1862. P[anchloni] ciihcusis Saussure, RC-v. et Mag. de Zuol., (2), xiv, p. 230.
[ 9 , Cuba.] 1896. P[a7ich!ora] viridisCnffini {nolBIatta viridis Fabricius, I775)> Boll. Mus. Zool.
Anat. comp. Univ. Torino, xi, no. 236, p. 4. [ cT, 9 ; Punta di Sabana and Ciman,
Darien.] 5. (Detailed diagnosis.)
Pinogana, Darien, Panama, XII, 1915. (Munoz). i cf , [Hebard Collection].
Porto Bello, Pan., II, 15 to III, 16, i()ii, (Busck, Jennings), 7 d', 5 ?•
Caldera Island, Porto Bello, Pan., (Jennings), 70".
Gatun, Canal Zone, Pan., VII, 28 to VIII, 22, 1916, (Harrower), 2 9 •
Alhajuela, Pan., IV, 17, 1911, (Busck), i 9.
Limon Plantation, Chagres River, Pan., 'II, 14, 1918, (Dietz and Zetek), I 9.
Rio Trinidad, Pan., Ill, 19, 1912, (Busck), I 9.
Tabernilla, C. Z., Pan., V, 4 to VI, 14, 1907, (Busck), 3 cf, i 9 .
Paraiso, C. Z.. Pan., I, iS to II, 3, 191 1, (Busck, Schwarz), 2 9 .
Cabima. Pan., V, 17, 1911, (Busck), i 9.
Corozal, C. Z., Pan., IV, 7, 191 1, (Busck, at light), i c^.
Ancon, C. Z., Pan., (Jennings), I 9.
Tabogilla Island, Pan.. II, 21, 1912, (Busck), i 9.
Taboga Island. Pan., II, 20 to VI, 14, 191 1 and 1912, (Busck), 3 c^^, 2 9 .
'cry great size variation is shown by the present series of this common and widely (Hstributed deUcate green roach. The extremes of the series are gien Ix^low.
Measurements {in millimeters)
Length of Length of Widtli of Length of Width of
cf body pronotum pronotuni tegmen tegmen
Pinogana ii-2 3-^ 4-5 I3 3-9
Porto Bello 10.8 3-7 4-1 ^3-7
Porto Bello 14 4 4 .V 1 i^' 4-7
Tabernilla 12.2 4 4-9 i3-7 4^
Corozal 10.7 3-7 4-1 i^-7 3-8 Porto Bello 16,4 51 6 18.5 5-7
Porto Bello 18.3 5f> ^^-9 I9-^' 6.3
Porto Bello 19-5 (^ 7-4 20.8 6.8
Gatun 17 5-2 6.2 18.8 56
Gatun 20.8 6 71 21 6.2
Tabernilla 18.3 5-8 ^>-8 19-9 5-9

Panchlora cubensis Saussure
1862. PanchIora] cithensis Saussure, Rev. et Mag. Zool., 2e ser., xiv, p. 230.
[ 9 , Cuba.]
This insect is discussed on page 198; though it has never become established outside the tropics, living examples are constantly being shipped into the United States, far north of the species' normal distribution, the great majority of these coming in tropical fruits. The adventive material before us is listed below.
S. S. Tenadores, en route New York to Jamaica, X, 19, 1913. (Hebard; dead in hold), I 9, [Hebard Cln.].
Orono, Maine, 1892, (in troi)ical fruit), i 9, [Maine Agr. Exp. Sta. Cln.].
Augusta, Me., 1906, i 9, [U. S. N. M.].
Boston, Massachusetts, XII, 26, 1878, (S. Kneeland; flying in store), I 9, [M. Stoneham, Mass., XI, 15. 1915(C, '. Blackburn), i 9, [Morse Cln.].
^'^ An immature specimen, taken from a bunch of bananas, has been recorded from Toronto, Ontario.
Melrose, Mass., 'I, 17. 1914, (F. W. Dodge), i ?, [Morse On.].
Wellesley, Mass., XII, 12, 1894, (Miss Hubbard; on window of Stone Hall), i 9 , [Morse Cln.].
Framingham. Mass., 'III, i, 1914, (C. A. Frost; in grocery store), i 9, [Morse Cln.].
Salem, Mass., V'lII, i, 1890, (E. S. Morse; in bathroom of house), i 9, [M. Albany, New York, HI, 25, 1908, i 9, [U. S. N. M.].
Brooklyn, N. Y., (on bananas), i 9, [Bklvn. Inst.]; IX, 8, 1891, (C. L. Gissler), Staten Island, X. Y., Ill, 1906, i 9 ; XII, 1910, i 9, [both Davis Cln.].
New Brighton, Staten Island, X. Y., HI, 1915. VIII. 9, 1912, (W. T. Davis; from bananas), 2 9, [Davis Cln.].
Xewark, Xew Jersey. IX, 26, 1913, (F. Lange; on bananas), i 9, [U. S. N. M.].
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, III, 9, 1914, (E. R. Casey; alive in street), i 9, [Casey Cln.]; i 9, [A. N. S. P.].
Washington, District of Columbia, i 9; XI, 19, 1915, (F. Knab), i 9, [both U. S. N. M.l.
Arlington, Virginia, VIII, 191 3, (H. A. Allard; Experiment Farms), i 9 , [Hebard Cln.].
Madison, Wisconsin. IV, 8 to fall, 1915 and 1916. 3 9, [Wise. Agr. E.xp. Sta. Cln.].
Lincoln, Nebraska, I, 30, 1904, (L. Gooding; in bananas), i 9 ; (Miss Fossler), I 9 ; I 9 , [all Hebard Cln.].
Osceola, Xebr., (R. Heald), i 9, [Hebard Cln.].
Douglas County, Kansas, (R. H. Beamer), i 9 , [Univ. Kansas Cln.].
Fort Collins, Colorado, (in bunch of bananas), i 9, [Morse Cln.].
Stockton, Utah, III. 1915, (from bunch of bananas), l 9, [Davis Cln.].
Bremerton, Washington, 1914, (F. G. Dunn), i 9. [U. S. X. M.].
The nomenclatural confusion in the plain green species of the present genus is well shown by the past records for this series. The specimen from Boston has been recorded by Scudder as viridis; that from Salem by the same author as nivea, then as viridis; that from Albany as hyalina of Saussure by F'elt, determined by Caudell; one of the Brooklyn examples by Riley as viridis, and one from Philadelphia by Rehn as virescens. These have further been the bases for subsequent records by Scudder of poeyi from "seaboard cities," by Bruner as viridis and exoleta indefinitely in the Xew Jersey list, while the species has been further recorded as viridis from Wellesley, Massachusetts, by IMorse and from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, by Riley. In the discussion of the species by Felt, the Boston, Salem and Brooklyn records are all placed under hyalina of Saussure.
In considering these various names, we can state that viridis and 7iivea are names referable to a South American complex, no individuals of which have appeared in collections of material adventive in the United States. Shelford has, after examination of the types, placed virescens in the synonymy under nivea, while exoleta is a normally larger insect, of which species the first specimen adventive in the United States, and hitherto unrecorded, is now before us. Saussure's poeyi, from the original description, appears to be an absolute synonym of his cubensis, based on the opposite (cT) sex. from Cuba. Saussure's hyalina (renamed translucida by Kirby) does not belong to the plain green species, being one of the forms in which the antennae bear a black annulus; Blatta hyalina of StoU is a different insect, so poorly described and figured that it can merely be located as one of the plain green forms of the present genus, and in consequence, with type destroyed and no locality given, we believe that name best treated as unidentifiable.
Scudder has recorded the species as viridis, taken on a steamer en route from Jamaica to the United States, in order to show the usual means of introduction of the species. Wholly contrary to the opinion expressed by Felt, we do not believe the present insect can establish itself in temperate climates except under artificial conditions. It is essentially an out-of-doors dweller in the tropics and can not adapt itself to artificial surroundings, as the domiciliary forms do so readily.

Panchlora cubensis Saussure (Plate VIII, figures 2 to 5.)
1862. P[anchlora] cubensis Saussure, Rev. et Mag. Zool., 2e ser., xiv, p. 230. [ 9 , Cuba.]
Though many names now standing in the literature represent almost certainly synonyms of this species, examination of the types, of at least several of these, must be made before the nomenclature of the plain green species of the genus can be put on a secure basis. ^2^
The present species is widely distributed throughout the greater Antilles, Mexico and Central America, its distribution extending within the limits of the United States only in the vicinity of Brownsville, Texas. The insect is frequently shipped alive into the United States, particularly in bananas, but it is an essentially out of doors tropical form and can never become established north of the tropical areas of this country.
Characters of Male. — (Brownsville, Texas.) Eyes rather broad in front, separated by a brief space which in width is usually about one-eighth the greatest diameter of the eye; ocellar areas weakly concave, ocellar spots faintly suggested. Clear margins of pronotum and tegmina weakly tessellate with greenish and in consequence slightly opaque. Tegmina and wings fully developed, normal for the genus. Supraanal plate very short, very strongly transverse, distal margin broadly concave,
323 See Hebard, Ent. News, xxvii, p. 217, (1916). The present species is scon to be a member of the first group of the plain species, and should be placed first in the linear arrangement of the species of the genus. with an obtuse-angulation weakly indicated mesad, disto-lateral angles rectangulate and rather sharply rounded. Cerci short and broad, extending far beyond distal margin of supra-anal plate, lateral margins subparallel totherather broadly rounded apex. Subgenital plate transverse, distal margin transverse between the cerci. Small cylindrical styles situated on this margin at the inner margin of the base of the cerci, each equal to about one-third the cereal length. Cephalic femora with ventro-cephalic margins supplied proximad with a few hairs, succeeded distad by a more closely-set row of shorter hairs (with a single, distal, atrophied spine, individually present or absent). Other femora unarmed (or with a single, distal, atrophied spine, individually present or absent on the ventral margins), except dorsodistad where a small delicate genicular s])ine is situated slightly cephalad of the median line.
Characters of Female. — (Brownsville, Texas.) This sex agrees with the male except in the following features. Size larger. Interspace between the eyes from onehalf to two-thirds the greatest diameter of the eye.'-^ Supra-anal plate strongly produced, bilobate distad, this due to a deep medio-longitudinal cleft. Cerci with lateral margins weakly converging to a more narrowly rounded apex than in male. Subgenital plate with distal margin broadh' convex in general outline, but almost straight at base of cerci and with a brief, moderately deep, concave, mesal emargination.

Panchlora nivea, the Cuban cockroach or green banana cockroach, is a small species of cockroach found in Cuba and the Caribbean, and along the Gulf Coast from Florida to Texas, and has been observed as far north as Summerville, South Carolina. It is found in subtropical or tropical climates.

The females can grow up to 24 mm and the smaller males are 12 to 15 mm long. It is winged and a strong flier, pale green to yellowish green in color, with a yellow line running up the sides. The nymphs are brown or black in color and are burrowers.

It is usually an outdoor species and is rarely found indoors, so is not considered a pest. The adults can often be found in shrubbery, trees, and plants. The young can be found under logs and other debris. It is often attracted to both indoor and outdoor lights and it is mainly a nocturnal species.

It is often a popular pet roach due to its relatively pleasant green color, and because it is not an invasive indoor species. It is also used as food for other pets.

The ootheca (egg case) is 3–4 mm (0.12–0.16 in) long, is curved, and has indentations that show where the eggs are located. A study found that they contained 28 to 60 eggs (average 46). The ootheca is carried internally by the female until the eggs hatch. At 24 °C (75 °F) the eggs hatch in about 48 days, after which male nymphs mature in about 144 days, and female nymphs mature in about 181 days.