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For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada

Species Shelfordella lateralis - Turkestan Cockroach

Strange Parcoblatta? - Shelfordella lateralis cockroach - Shelfordella lateralis Blattidae - Shelfordella lateralis - female Turkestan Cockroach? - Shelfordella lateralis Female Turkestan cockroach? - Shelfordella lateralis - female Turkestan Cockroach? - Shelfordella lateralis - male - female Female, Turkestan cockroach? - Shelfordella lateralis - female Arizona Roach - Shelfordella lateralis - female
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Blattodea (Cockroaches and Termites)
Superfamily Blattoidea
Family Blattidae
Subfamily Blattinae
Genus Shelfordella
Species lateralis (Turkestan Cockroach)
Other Common Names
Turkistan Cockroach (alternate spelling)
Explanation of Names
Shelfordella lateralis (Walker 1868)
common name refers to Turkestan, a region in central Asia within the native range of this species
Size
15-28 mm
Identification
Male: reddish-brown with pale cream or whitish lateral strip on pronotum and along outer margin at base of wings; wings long, completely covering abdomen
Female: dark brown with very short wings that do not extend over abdomen; short whitish lateral dash at base of wing
Range
native to c. & sw. Asia and e. Mediterranean, adventive in NA(1) (so. US, spreading)
Habitat
water meter boxes, cracks between blocks of poured concrete, compost piles, leaf litter, potted plants, and sewer systems
Remarks
introduced to the US in the late 1970s, presumably by military personnel returning from the Middle East
Internet References
Species profile by J. Littlefield