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Death's Head Cockroaches

Blaberus craniifer

Photo by oxyjack
Published on Project Noah
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38.5552, -121.736

Field Notes

Description:

Large roach, ~ 8 cm in length. Dark, semi-rectangular patch in center of pronotum of winged adults.

Habitat:

Forests of tropical America.

Notes:

These roaches are part of a live colony of Panamanian roaches at the Bohart Museum of Entomology at UC Davis.

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (10)
keithp2012
I think they are blaberus giganteus or fusca
oxyjack
I'm kind of fond of them myself, though I wouldn't want an infestation in my home! Emma, their hemolymph is more of a transparent pale yellow than it is white, but they have a large amount of white fat (called the fat body, which functions much like a liver). I had to dissect one of these cockroaches in an entomology lab, it was hard to find the organs because of all the fat in there.
HemaShah
Did you know that there blood is white? We had to dissect this as part of our science curriculum.
Mark Ridgway
Poor roaches really get bad press. All because of a couple of pestish species.
annmarie.salem
these are huge! I have the biggest phobia on cockroaches (that began after watching men in black 1) and these guys would just freak me out.
Maria dB
Glad I don't have these in my home. My first thought on seeing them - "Darth Vader" of the roaches. ;)
oxyjack
They are recyclers of plant and animal detritus.
Mark Ridgway
Fascinating creatures. I presume they live on plant detritus.
Photographed
PublishedMarch 12, 2012

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