#native cockroach

[clumsyvelvetworms]

Fresh off the camera this morning, a little Ellipsidion sp. youngster!

[drhoz]

#1845 - Laxta rieki - Trilobite Roach

Banjup, Perth.

Males are winged with a wide thoracic shield, but the females are wingless and can cling very securely to the wood and bark they’re hiding under. The best-known species is L. granicollis, but that’s probably because all but one of the other 13 species were named and described in 1992. 

[drhoz]

#1335 - Polyzosteria fulgens - Resplendent Roach

A large native cockroach that we found floating in a puddle at ABR - metallic copper, yellow, and green. Many of Australia’s Polyzosteria species are conspicuously coloured, such as Mitchell’s Daylight Roach, but this one is only found around Perth.

[drhoz]

Cockroach ootheca - probably Ellipsidion sp.

Greenmount, Perth

[drhoz]

#587 - Calolampra sp. - Large Trilobite Roach

IDed by David Rentz. A large flying roach attracted to the Spud Shed floodlights. This one is a male. According to Esperance Fauna:

The genus Calolampra is one of 15 in the Blaberidae family, which according to the Australian Faunal Directory has a total of 87 species. However only three are listed for the southern coastal district of Western Australia, with the vast majority found in the Eastern States, particularly in Queensland and northern NSW. This family of roaches are generally flat and have shorter legs than those in other families and due to their segments and rounded shape are commonly known as Trilobites after a similar looking marine arthropod that went extinct 250 million years ago.

  Some cockroaches in the Blaberidae family are amongst the largest, or at least the heaviest and live in burrows underground. Calolampra fraserensis also lives in the soil or under litter, but do not construct complex tunnels, although livable spaces are made where they will cohabit with other family members.

  Despite some Blaberidae being completely wingless, the males of most species do have wings (females remaining wingless), to no doubt enable them to migrate to other colonies thereby spreading their genes and so reducing the risk of inbreeding. Mature insects of the above species are a little over 2 cm (3/4”) in head/body length and although I would not class them as being common, are still well represented in the Esperance region, but are seldom encountered, presumably remaining close to home.

Baldivis, Perth.

[drhoz]

#586 - Balta hebardi - Beautiful Roach

B. hebardi , judging by David Rentz’s  Guide to the Cockroaches of Australia (2014)</a>. Another native roach that I spotted on my car as I was leaving the house one afternoon. Very pretty.

[drhoz]

#583 - Drymaplaneta communis - the OTHER Half-banded Shining Roach

Drymaplaneta communis, VERY similar to D. semivitta, and sharing much of the same range, but with parallel sides to the hind tibia instead of convex.

[drhoz]

Platyzosteria sp. Black Native Cockroach

Inside a felled tree, Baldivis, Perth