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Paper-thin Cockroach

Compsodes mexicanus

Photo by LaurenZarate
Published on Project Noah
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16.7354, -92.6387

Field Notes

Description:

This little Cockroach is only 1 cm long and is very soft and as thin as a piece of paper. It must live in the cracks of pine bark or even under loose bark where it would be completely camouflaged. Family Corydiidae.

Habitat:

Came to an ultraviolet light in the garden, San Cristobal de Las Casas, 2,200 meters.

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (7)
LaurenZarate
Hi Keith. I got a ventral picture of this guy (I'll do better with the next one). The upper wings really are huge compared to the body and the underwings seem to be quite short. It also has long, thick, segmented terci. What do you think?
LaurenZarate
Thank you Keith and thank you for all your work! So lets leave it as is for now and maybe if we keep checking on the species the status will be updated or confirmed. :)
keithp2012
A friend and I worked together to find the info. As for the genus its quite confusing many species of cockroach are still being organized as to whether they are related or subspecies, so I'm not sure if its been official or not.
LaurenZarate
Wow Keith! Very neat. Thank you so much! I've seen this one only 3 times, waiting for another to get a ventral picture. I only ever see it at the UV light. What do you think of this article by Gutierrez, where he moves C. mexicanus to another genus? He says "provisionally transferred", it that now valid? http://caribbeanahigroup.org/pdf/solenodon10/6_Compsodes.pdf
keithp2012
This is a male (Compsodes mexicanus), a primitive blattarian member of the family Corydiidae (previously Polyphagidae); subfamily Tiviinae. Related genera include Austropolyphaga from Australia and Anacompsa from Africa. These are among the few genera of modern roaches that retained the presence of a "pseudovein" that runs diagonally from the radial veins up towards the costals on both forewings. Blattopteran "roachoids" and the earliest mantids also exhibited this feature as well. Fossil evidence shows that as roaches became less flight dependent during the late Jurassic from increased scleratization of the tegmina, they began losing this characteristic. Most tiviid females are apterous
LaurenZarate
Thank you Keith, I'll try to get a ventral picture.
keithp2012
thats a very interesting species, never seen anything like it the wings are huge compared to its body

Spotted for Missions

Mission
Mexico Horn of Plenty

Tags

Photographed
PublishedJune 14, 2013

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