Gromphadorhini is a

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confli ...

of large, flightless, wood-inhabiting

cockroaches 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 a ...

comprising 20 known species in 6 gener

all but one from the island of

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

; the one exception being from

Europa Island Europa Island (, ), in Malagasy Nosy Ampela is a low-lying tropical atoll in the Mozambique Channel, about a third of the way from southern Madagascar to southern Mozambique. The island had never been inhabited until 1820, when the French fam ...

just off the coast of Madagascar. They are collectively known as hissing cockroaches, capable of producing sound by forcing air through their abdominal spiracles, and many species are popular in the pet trade, especially the species commonly called "the

Madagascar hissing cockroach The Madagascar hissing cockroach (''Gromphadorhina portentosa''), also known as the hissing cockroach or simply hisser, is one of the largest species of cockroach, reaching at maturity. They are native to the island of Madagascar, which is off ...

", ''Gromphadorhina portentosa''. Remarkably, despite their size, 9 of the 20 known species of hissing roaches were not recognized until recently, having only been described in 1973.C. van Herrewege. 1973. Contribution à l'étude des Blattaria de la faune Malgache. II. Description de huit espèces nouvelles appartenant aux genres ''Gromphadorhina'' Brunner v.W. et ''Elliptorhina'' gen. nov. Bulletin de la Société Linnéenne de Lyon, 42nd année, Numéro spécial du 150th anniversaire, décembre 1973. 75-103

As pets

Members of at least four of the genera in the tribe ('' Aeluropoda'', '' Elliptorhina'', '' Gromphadorhina'', and '' Princisia'') are widely kept as exotic pets. Although ''G. portentosa'' is considered the best known, and most popular pet, this is debatable since '' G. oblongonota'' and '' G. picea''Delfosse, E. (2004) Les blattes souffleuses de Madagascar. Insectes 153: 19-22. are commonly confused with it by pet dealers.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5885887 Cockroaches Insect tribes