Family Blattidae - Blattid Cockroaches
- This page contains pictures and information about Cockroaches in family Blattidae that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.
- Nymph body length 10mm
- Members in this Blattidae family are usually large in size. Adults are over 20mm in body length. Their cerci are relatively long and obvious. They are usually dark brown to reddish-brown in colours. They are usually found on ground under plant materials or under barks.
Subfamily Blattinae
- The well known domestic pest cockroach, including the American Cockroach and Australian Cockroach are in this family Blattidae. They are in subfamily Blattinae and are introduced species.
- Australian Cockroach
- Periplaneta australasiae, body length 40mm
- This cockroach looks ugly, it has hairy legs and eye-pattern on their thorax. They are reddish brown in colour, with long antennae and yellow edges on the front part of forewings. They are pest in households. This species of cockroaches, with the American Cockroaches and German Cockroaches, have given the cockroaches order group a bad name. They transmitted diseases when they occur in house and restaurants. They contaminate food and must be controlled. Despite the name, Australian Cockroaches are not native to Australia. They originated from Asia. They became totally adapted to the domestic life. We have more pictures and detail information in this Australian Cockroach page.
Subfamily Polyzosterinae, Tribe METHANINI - Methana Cockroaches
- Bark Cockroach, Common Methana
- Methana marginalis, adult body length 28mm, nymph body length 25mm
- The Common Methana cockroaches are dark brown in colour, with creamy white edges along both sides of body. The adults look the same as the nymph except the adults are fully wings developed. We sometimes find them in the bush of Eucalypt forests. They run fast on ground and hide among plant materials. We have more information in this page.
- U-marked Methana Cockroach
- Methana curvigera, body Length 25mm
- We found this Cockroach on a Acacia leaf in early summer in Yugarapul Park. We saw this Cockroach only once. It was brown in colour. The wing covers were brown with white edges. The thorax was white with a dark U-marked pattern. Please check this page for more information.
- Most polyzosteriine cockroaches are diurnal. These are unusually large and often colourful. They can be found moving on ground or perched on bushes in full sunlight. They are wingless and native species.
- Pale Woodland Cockroach
- Platyzosteria (Melanozosteria) spryi, body length 15mm
- This cockroach look like the Common Methana above but in pale brown colours. Please check this page for more infromation.
- Oval Woodland Cockroach
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- Platyzosteria (Melanozosteria) kellyi, body length 15mm
- We found this cockroach once hiding between dry leaves on a small plant. This cockroach is medium in size, oval and convex in body shape with smooth shiny surface and entirely dark reddish brown colour. Please check this page for more infromation.
- Black Woodland Cockroach
- Platyzosteria (Platyzosteria) melanaria, body length 25mm
- The cockroach was found wandering under the fallen gum tree barks during the day. Please check this page for more infromation.
- Reddish-brown Woodland Cockroach
- Platyzosteria (Platyzosteria) anceps, body length 25mm
- The cockroach was found hiding under the fallen gum tree bark during the day. The cockroach is wingless, shiny reddish-brown with obvious cerci. We found them a few times in the Eucalypt forests around Brisbane. They were usually found on ground wandering among fallen plant materials. Please check this page for more information.
- White-tailed Woodland Cockroach
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- Platyzosteria (Platyzosteria) incurva., body length 15mm
- We saw this cockroach a few times. The cockroach was found on different plants during the day. The cockroach was dark brown, with one abdomen segment near the end white in colour. It had the relatively thick body compared with other cockroach. More information about this cockroach can be found in this page.
- Reference:
- 1. Insects of Australia, CSIRO, Division of Entomology, Melbourne University Press, 2nd Edition 1991, p320.
- 2. Grasshopper Country - the Abundant Orthopteroid Insects of Australia, D Rentz, UNSW Press, 1996, p211.
- 3. Northern Territory Insects, A Comprehensive Guide CD - Graham Brown, 2009.
- 4. Family BLATTIDAE - A.M.E. Roach & D.C.F. Rentz, CSIRO Entomology, Australian Faunal Directory, Australian Biological Resources Study.
- 5. Australian Blattidae (Blattodea). IX. Revision of Polyzosteriinae tribe Methanini, Tryonicinae, and Blattinae - Mackerras, M.J. 1968, Australian Journal of Zoology 16: 511-575 [517].
All Polyzosterinae species are native to Australia. Cockroaches in this subfamily are dark brown to black in colours and most have the creamy white edges along the body. Adults in tribe Methanini are fully winged.
