what’s this insect?
Location: alexandria, Egypt
August 6, 2011 5:49 pm
can you please help me identify this insect i found on the kitchen groud walking quikly yesterday.
Signature: MiGo

Egyptian Desert Roach

Hi MiGo,
This is a female Egyptian Desert Roach, Polyphaga aegyptiaca.  This is not a species that will infest your home.  You can read all the previous research we did on the Egyptian Desert Roach in this posting from our archives.

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Unknown bug next to American cockroach
Location: So Cal Hi Desert City of Adelanto zip 92301
July 30, 2011 7:54 pm
I was having trouble with the American cockroach in my lawn, but not in the house. This morning I sprayed around the house and the lawn and I found this dark brown striped bug by some dead cockroaches. What is is? I only found one so far as compared to many dead cockroaches that came out of my lawn after I sprayed.
Signature: Bill Riechel

Male Turkestan Cockroach (above) and female

Hi Bill,
These are both Cockroaches.  The individual you are calling the American Cockroach is lighter than we would expect.  How large was the dark brown striped Cockroach?  American Cockroaches are quite large.  We are going to try to get some assistance from Eric Eaton on this identification.

Male Turkestan Cockroach (above) and female

As we continued to browse BugGuide, we found this unidentified Cockroach from Riverside California.  This may be a new introduction, or a newly discovered native species.  Hopefully, we will get some additional information.

Female Turkestan Cockroach (left) and male

Eric Eaton provides and identification
August 1, 2011
Daniel:
Male (right) and female (left) Turkestan Cockroach, Blatta lateralis.  They are a common “outdoor” roach in urban areas here in Tucson.
Eric

Ed. Note:  See BugGuide

Update from Bill
August 3, 2011
Subject: Turkestan Cockroach
Location: Adelanto, CA 92301
August 3, 2011 3:45 pm
When I wrote the other day for bug ID I was wrong on the lighter color cockroach as I thought it was an American, but is only about 1” long and in my research I found that it is the male Turkestan cockroach. I have now caught a female and have attached a set of photos here, but in al my searching I was never able to ID the bigger striped bug which is about 1.5” long.
Signature: Bill Riechel

Turkestan Cockroaches, female above

Ed. Note:  August 4, 2011
We are in agreement with Bill that he now has a pair of Turkestan Cockroaches, and we feel that the previously submitted images contain the unknown Cockroach that is similar to one posted to BugGuide.  We are going to recontact Eric Eaton to ask him to revisit his original identification.

Hi Daniel:
So you don’t think it could be a drown female that is bloated as per Eric’s answer?
The body segments match in number and the strip on the wing buds is the same and if it was swollen then the head maybe pushed out from under its protective shell.  I don’t know!
I am going to try and catch a live female and drop her in a bucket of water for a couple of days to see if I can duplicate the swelling effect from drowning.
Last night I inspected my lawn area where the heaviest concentration of the roaches were and even with a flash light I could find none, nor did I even see any possible movement.  I used “Bayer Advanced Complete Insect Control”  in the quart bottle that attaches to you hose.  I did all around the house 2 feet up the stucco and 2 feet out from the house on my gravel that surrounds most of the house and my lawn.
I then sprayed “Ortho Home Defense Max”  around the house at the bottom of the stucco where the stucco breather strip is.  The next morning when I walked around the house I found more dead Turkestan males, 3 dead black widows and a few dead silverfish.
I have only seen 9 females as compared to numerous males.  What is the normal ratio of females to males?
Thanks for all the help!

Eric Eaton confirms his original identification
Daniel:
The “unknown” roach is a bloated, probably drowned, female Turkestan Roach, plain and simple.
Eric

Update:  Scientific Experiment verifies identity
August 8, 2011
Hi Daniel & Eric:
I found a female Turkestan cockroach and put her in a cup of water and it took two days for her to swell up and expose the white bands of her body segments, also her head came out from under the protection of the shell to look just like the one I pictured for ID.
Thanks,
BILL RIECHEL

Household Intruders
Location California
May 9, 2011

Unknown Nymphs

Ed. Note: Reader assistance requested
Our coworker at LACC, Betsy from the Nursing Department, hand delivered these two nymphs taped to a small notepad.  We are uncertain if they are immature Cockroaches, Termites or Earwigs.  Betsy indicated that they were found in large numbers on the kitchen counter and that the new downstairs neighbors have reported a Cockroach infestation which makes Cockroaches our number 1 choice, and they do seem to closely resemble this image of a German Cockroach nymph on BugGuide.  They are very tiny.  If any readers can confirm an identification, it would be greatly appreciated.

German Cockroach Nymphs we believe

Large winged…cicada?
Location: Belmopan, Belize
April 30, 2011 10:26 am
Hi! I saw this large (over 3”, probably closer to 4”) bug on my windowsill at night. He had really long antennae that don’t show up well in the picture (but he does have a cute little face, doesn’t he?) He was quite active, so I presume he is nocturnal. He was pretty spectacular! Any ideas what he is? I thought perhaps a cicada, because it’s that time of year. Thanks for any assistance! You folks are great!
Signature: Cindy

Giant Leaf Cockroach

Hi Cindy,
What a magnificent Cockroach you have encountered.  Of the thousands of species of Cockroaches in the world, very few are known to infest human dwellings, and this is definitely a benign species.  We hope to be able to provide a species identification with some additional research.

Giant Leaf Cockroach

Hi Daniel and Cindy:
I believe this is a Peppered Cockroach (also Giant Peruvian or Giant Leaf Cockroach), Archimandrita tesselata.  It is a forest dwelling species throughout Central and South America. They are able to fly but apparently seldom do so, preferring instead to hide among the leaf litter where they are quite well camouflaged.  They are popular among roach breeders because of their impressive size, good looks and ease of care, so there is actually quite a lot of information available on the internet. Regards.  Karl

Hi Daniel,
Wow – that’s a cockroach?  They sure grow ‘em big down here in Belize!  Ah well, he seemed quite pleasant and didn’t bother me, so I’m happy to report that he’s still motoring merrily around somewhere.  I wish I’d been able to get a ruler next to him in the picture because he was quite large, but I didn’t really want to open the screen on the off-chance that he might fly in.  Perhaps if he wanders back one evening, I’ll give it a try.
Thanks so much for the identification!  We have so many amazing bugs down here and I’m trying to learn, but darn it, they just don’t come with name tags.
Thanks again so much for your time!
Warm regards,
cindy

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