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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Cockroaches and Termites (Blattodea) » Blaberoidea » Ovoviviparous Cockroaches (Blaberidae) » Panchlora » Green Banana Cockroach (Panchlora nivea)
Photo#5708
Green Banana Cockroach (Panchlora nivea) - Panchlora nivea
Copyright © 2004 Rattlebox Photography

Green Banana Cockroach (Panchlora nivea) - Panchlora nivea
Tallahassee, Florida, USA
August 8, 2004
Also known as the Cuban cockroach, this is an invasive species that first got to the US on shipments of fruit from the Caribbean. Like most cockroaches, it is nocturnal. It is a strong flyer and is drawn to bright lights at night. This species does not breed in houses and prefers to remain outdoors if possible. Its habitat is restricted to the deep South in the US, primarily along the Gulf Coast from South Florida to Houston, TX; there have been limited sightings of the green banana roach in Mississippi and Alabama recently. It reaches a maximum length of about 2"; the specimen in this photo was under 1/2" long.
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Contributed by Rattlebox Photography on 10 August, 2004 - 8:10am
Last updated 15 September, 2005 - 9:31pm

Beautiful And Looks Like Jade!
I live just outside Gulfport, MS in the DeSoto Forest, and found one of these beautiful little bugs clinging to my bedroom window blinds. It looked like a beautiful piece of jade and I have never seen one before. After putting it in my bug jar that I keep inside to catch bugs and release outside, it started moving and I said to my husband "It has the antenna and body of a roach!" and then I released it outside and then searched online to find this informative page. We are surrounded by wolf spiders so I doubt it will survive long outside, but I wish it luck and am very happy to have seen such a beautiful bug today.
… Nightbird, 8 September, 2019 - 11:54am login or register to post comments

Wow, a green roach!
I live in Southeast Louisiana, New Orleans to be exact and this morning, I found a green roach. I was amazed because I had never seen one before, not even at the local Insecterrium. My husband d thought that I was loosing it when I told him of my discovery but after I sent him the pictures, he was amazed also.
… Christy1223, 9 August, 2015 - 12:10pm login or register to post comments

One of these little cubanitos
One of these little cubanitos flew in the house and landed on my eyeglasses! Never seen one before, but one google of "green roach" led me here. Unmistakable.

~SW Alabama
… theoriginaljd, 4 July, 2012 - 10:11pm login or register to post comments

Green banana Roach
I live in southern Louisiana, on the north shore and I've seen only three of these, one sitting on my car about a year or so ago, I found it amazing how pretty a roach can be. And one night I found one dead in my fishtank. I think it was trying to get to the light in there and must have slipped in from outside and tonight I noticed one hanging out by the lights on back door. Pretty, yet still a roach.
… Wolfoflegends, 21 June, 2012 - 12:12am login or register to post comments

green roach shocker
This weekend, I found a critter I didn't recognize. I thought,initially, that it was a green grasshopper but quickly realized my mistake. I knew it looked a roach, but, Heavens!!, a GREEN roach??????? A quick call to our pest control person assurred me I wasn't an idiot, that there really is a green cockroach.
My 13-year-old grandaughter, who loves all animals and bugs, knew at once what it was and told me she sees them all the time in the grass. We live in Lafayette Co., FL, I'm 65, and this was a huge surprise to me. I'd never heard of a green roach, much less ever seen one!
God bless!
Nana44w
… Nana44w, 30 September, 2009 - 12:24am login or register to post comments

Found one.
I found one of these little guys in my home after my mother got back from the grocery store with some fruits and other goods. The fruits are my best guess as to how he wound up crawling on the ceiling of my living room. Having never seen a green roach before, or even heard of them for that matter, I captured him and googled "Florida Green Roach". It brought me here, and I am positive this is the species I have. I live in North-Central Florida. I tried to take some pictures of him, but my camera just wouldn't focus on him correctly.
… Ora, 29 September, 2009 - 5:30pm login or register to post comments

Green banana Cockroach
I live in north Louisiana and today 4/29/2008 as I was chopping out an old oak stump I found a pale almost translucent green roach about an inch long. wasn't able to get a picture but I'll try.
… Steven C. Hatfield, 29 April, 2008 - 4:11pm login or register to post comments

 
Green Cuban cockroach
Found one of these tonight and the first one in my life. I live in Gregg County Texas so North East Texas. I knew it was a roach but nothing I had ever seen before.
… chalice845, 8 July, 2013 - 1:31am login or register to post comments

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