Brown cockroach

{{Short description|Species of cockroach}} {{Speciesbox | image = Periplaneta brunnea.jpg | genus = Validiblatta | species = brunnea | authority = {Burmeister, 1838) |synonyms = *''Periplaneta brunnea'' Burmeister, 1838<ref name=LuoDengHanLo25/> *''Periplaneta concolor'' Walker, 1868 *''Periplaneta patens'' Walker, 1868 *''Periplaneta truncata'' Krauss, 1892 *''Periplaneta ignota'' Shaw, 1925 }}

The '''brown cockroach''' ('''''Validiblatta brunnea'''''), synonym '''''Periplaneta brunnea''''',<ref name=LuoDengHanLo25>{{Cite journal |last1=Luo |first1=X. |last2=Deng |first2=W. |last3=Han |first3=W. |last4=Lo |first4=N. |last5=Cai |first5=J. |last6=Che |first6=Y. |last7=Wang |first7=Z. |date=2025 |title=Revision of the cockroach subfamily Blattinae based on morphological and molecular analyses |journal=Systematic Entomology |pages=1–19 |doi=10.1111/syen.12680 |name-list-style=amp }}</ref> is a species of cockroach in the family Blattidae. It is probably originally native to Africa, but today it has a circumtropical distribution, having been widely introduced.<ref name=cook>[http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org/species.asp?id=9351 ''Periplaneta brunnea'', Brown Cockroach.] Cook Islands Biodiversity Database. The Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust. 2007.</ref> In cooler climates it can only survive indoors,<ref name=brit>[http://www.orthoptera.org.uk/account.aspx?ID=54 ''Periplaneta brunnea'' (Burmeister, 1838).] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121115135610/http://www.orthoptera.org.uk/account.aspx?ID=54 |date=November 15, 2012 }} Orthopteroids of the British Isles Recording Scheme.</ref> and it is considered a household pest.<ref name=cook/>

== Appearance == This cockroach is similar in appearance to the American cockroach (''Periplaneta americana''), but darker in color and with thicker, wider, triangular cerci. This species is a reddish-brown color and has fully developed wings.<ref name="brit" /> It reaches up to 4 centimeters in length.<ref name="cook" />

== Ecology == Brown cockroaches are omnivores<ref name="brit" /> and give off unpleasant smells when threatened or touched. Males are usually smaller than their female counterparts. They are social insects and like to be in large groups, resting in warm, moist, dark areas. This species prefers indoor areas and are often known as the pests that linger around homes. This contrasts with the habits of American cockroaches, which prefer to live in outdoor areas like the sewers on the streets, and only come into homes when there are changes in the weather climate or when food is limited.

== Reproduction == Brown cockroaches produce an ootheca about 1.2 to 1.6 centimeters long, containing about 24 eggs on average.<ref name="padil">[http://www.padil.gov.au/maf-border/Pest/Main/140717 ''Periplaneta brunnea'' Burmeister, 1838.] PaDIL.</ref> It is longer compared to the American cockroach, one ootheca of which contains around 28 eggs on average.

== Distribution == This species has a cosmopolitan distribution, present on all continents except Antarctica.

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/9061684 Black and white photographs] of top view of ''P. brunnea'' male and female specimens, from ''Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections''. * [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/5350315 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 by Morgan Hebard, with a key to the figures on page 280. ** {{cite journal | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/5350073#page/7/mode/1up| title=The Blattidae of North America north of the Mexican boundary | author=Hebard, Morgan | journal=Memoirs of the American Entomological Society | year=1917 | volume=2 | pages=1–284}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown Cockroach}} Category:Cockroaches Category:Taxa named by Hermann Burmeister Category:Blattodea of Africa

Brown cockroach

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