Big, Black and Beautiful
Location: Queensland, Australia
March 11, 2011 6:11 pm
Hi guys,
I’m not sure of the ID on this one apart from it possibly being a Platyzosteria species. I often see wood roaches around the place but this is the first time I have ever seen one this big, if it is one, and out basking on a leaf of a sweet potato vine in my garden. Close to 2” long, and has some pretty awesome looking cerci/genitalia?
Rather beautiful don’t you think?
Signature: aussietrev

Cockroach

Hi Trevor,
Sorry for the delay, but we have a personal deadline this week that is eating into our posting time allotment.  Oz Animals identifies Cockroaches in the genus Platyzosteria as Black Cockroaches.

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What kind of bug is this?
Location: Tel Aviv, Israel
February 11, 2011 9:51 pm
Hi, I found this bug in my apartment in Israel and I assume it’s a beetle, but I can’t figure out what kind. Someone told me they thought these sting. Do you know what this is?
Signature: Curious

Egyptian Desert Roach

Dear Curious,
This is sure an unusual looking Cockroach.  The good news is that of the thousands of species of Cockroaches, only a few actually infest human dwellings, and this is not one of those.  The pestilent species have given a bad name to all Cockroaches.  Our initial web searches did not produce any matches to this primitive looking Cockroach, but perhaps one of our readers will have luck with a species identification.

Immediate Update:   Egyptian Desert Roach
After posting, we decided to search our own archive and we noticed a marked similarity between the pictured specimen and the Boll’s Sand Roach from Texas we posted last year.  We then searched the web for images of the family it belongs to, Polyphagidae, and we discovered a Polyphagidae web page with a photo of the Egyptian Sand Roach, Polyphaga aegyptiaca.  The proximity of Israel to Egypt leads us to believe you may have encountered an Egyptian Desert Roach.  The Bugs in Cyberspace website describes the Egyptian Desert Roach as being:  “a very unusual roach species. Females look like large, rounded scarab beetles while males posess long, black wings. Feed them a little dried dogfood, fruits and vegetables.“ The photo included there would indicate that your individual is a female.  AllPet Roaches indicates that females have long back legs to ensure that they never get stuck on their backs as well as forelegs engineered for digging in the sand.

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What kind of bug is this
Location: Eastern North Carolina
December 13, 2010 7:21 pm
See these around my house and I want to know what it is so I can exterminate once and for all
Signature: Bugingly Yours

Smoky Brown Cockroach, probably

This is most certainly a Cockroach, and we believe it may be the Smoky Brown Cockroach, Periplaneta fuliginosa, based on images posted to BugGuide.  Of the thousands of species of Cockroaches, only a few are considered to be household pests, and we have never seen the Smoky Brown Cockroach on any of those lists, however, it is closely related to the American Cockroach which is considered to be a pest species.

cave invertebrates

Unidentified Cave Cockroach from the Philippines #1

Location: Lanao del Norte, Philippines
November 15, 2010 1:12 am
i would like to ask a help to identify these specimen. i collected these invertebrates from the cave in the Philippines. i find it hard to identify them because i have no standard taxonomic keys and other references. Please kindly help me because they are needed to be identify for my thesis. I hope for your help, as soon as possible. Thank you for your consideration.
Signature: immediately

Unidentified Cave Cockroach from the Philippines #2

These invertebrates are needed to be identify for my thesis. Please, kindly help me. I hope i could have the answers as soon as possible. Thank you so much for your cooperation.
Signature: immediately

Unidentified Cave Cockroach from the Philippines #3

Dear immediately,
While we sympathize with your thesis dilemma, we have an ethical issue with doing your homework.  We know that researching and writing is very labor intense, but this thesis is your research project and you need to do the research.  You have submitted 9 images that you want us to identify and you have indicated that this is critical information for your project, yet you will get credit for the thesis without doing the necessary research work.  Six of nine images you submitted are Cockroaches and they represent several different species, though it appears some may be nymphs and adults of the same species.

Unidentified Cave Cockroach from the Philippines #4

It would probably take us many hours to properly identify all of your Cockroaches, and even then we may not be able to provide conclusive identifications.  We did find this comment posted on a Cockroaches of the Philippines web page:  “Oh and by the way there are several species of roaches found in the philippines and some of them are worth a fortune abroad but most of these species do not dwell ion human homes”.

Unidentified Cave Cockroach from the Philippines #5

Dear whatsthatbug.com,
First, I would like to say thank you for at least looking at the pictures of my specimen but i would like to inform you that i’m doing my research work regarding the identification of the specimens that is why i surfed the net to look for information and pictures of invertebrates that might help me. As i said in my letter to the bugman, i have no standard taxonomic keys and other references about invertebrates that could help me identify the specimens. I surfed the net to research about the topic and find references and then I saw your site – thats when i thought that this site could be my reference and could help me identify the specimens. I even thought that it’s okay to send the pictures though they were considered critical information for my thesis. I still hope that i can identify the specimens with the help of internet.
But i still would like to extend my thanks for giving it a try and also for your time. Thank you.

Dear immediately,
We have posted several of your photos and you are free to post a comment to our readership requesting additional assistance.  Your other creatures are a Huntsman Spider and a Camel Cricket and Snails, but we have no idea of the species, nor did we have any luck, as you yourself have seen, with any information on cave dwellers from the Philippines.  Perhaps some experts will write in with identifications.  Again, you are advised to post a comment to the postings we have made with your photos as that will ensure that whenever someone writes in with information, you will be informed.

Ed. Note: Caves are habitats that may provide the isolation needed for the evolutionary production of unique species.  Perhaps we were a bit harsh in our original response to immediately who might be doing important research on what might turn out to be new species that are currently unclassified.  Since we are not scientists, we would prefer that professionals take the reins from here.  If you are able to provide any information on these Cockroaches or on the other specimens posted from Lanao del Norte, Philippines, please post a comment.

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