The brown cockroach (''Periplaneta brunnea'') is a species of
cockroach
Cockroaches (or roaches) are a paraphyletic group of insects belonging to Blattodea, containing all members of the group except termites. About 30 cockroach species out of 4,600 are associated with human habitats. Some species are well-known ...
in the family
Blattidae
Blattidae is a cockroach family in the order Blattodea containing several of the most common household cockroaches. Some notable species include:
* '' Blatta orientalis'': Oriental cockroach,
* Common shining cockroach: (''Drymaplaneta commu ...
. It is probably originally native to
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
, but today it has a
circumtropical distribution, having been widely
introduced.
[''Periplaneta brunnea'', Brown Cockroach.]
Cook Islands Biodiversity Database. The Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust. 2007. In cooler climates it can only survive indoors,
[''Periplaneta brunnea'' (Burmeister, 1838).]
Orthopteroids of the British Isles Recording Scheme. and it is considered a
household pest.
[
This cockroach is similar in appearance to the ]American cockroach
The american cockroach (''Periplaneta americana'') is the largest species of common cockroach, and often considered a pest. In certain regions of the U.S. it is colloquially known as the waterbug, though it is not a true waterbug since it is not ...
(''P. americana''), but darker in color and with thicker, wider, triangular cerci. It is a reddish-brown color and has fully developed wings.[ It reaches up to 4 centimeters in length.][
It produces an ootheca about 1.2 to 1.6 centimeters long containing about 24 eggs on average.][''Periplaneta brunnea'' Burmeister, 1838.]
PaDIL.
It is an omnivore
An omnivore () is an animal that has the ability to eat and survive on both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize the nu ...
.[
]
References
External links
Black and white photographs
of top view of ''P. brunnea'' male and female specimens, from ''Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections''.
Drawings
of body parts of male ''P. brunnea''; plate VII, figures 12-16 show detail of the pronotum, end of abdomen with cerci, genital process, subgenital plate, and supra-anal plate with cerci. From a 1917 article