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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Cockroaches and Termites (Blattodea) » Blattoidea » Brown-hooded Cockroaches (Cryptocercidae) » Cryptocercus » Brown-hooded Cockroach (Cryptocercus punctulatus)

Species Cryptocercus punctulatus - Brown-hooded Cockroach

Classification · Other Common Names · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Explanation of Names · Size · Identification · Range · Habitat · Food · Remarks · Internet References · Works Cited

Wood cockroach? - Cryptocercus punctulatus

roach or rove beetle? - Cryptocercus punctulatus

Cryptocercus punctulatus-dorsal view - Cryptocercus punctulatus

Brown-hooded Cockroach - Cryptocercus punctulatus

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Blattodea (Cockroaches and Termites)

Superfamily Blattoidea

Family Cryptocercidae (Brown-hooded Cockroaches)

Genus Cryptocercus

Species punctulatus (Brown-hooded Cockroach)

Other Common Names

Wingless Wood Roach, Eastern Wood-eating Cockroach

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

4 spp. currently recognized in the Appalachians(1)

Explanation of Names

Cryptocercus punctulatus Scudder 1862

Size

Adults 23-30 mm(2)

Identification

Wingless, brown to black

Range

the northeasternmost Appalachian sp. (w.PA-se.IN to VA & WV | partial map)(3)(4)

Habitat

rotting logs; finding it in places where it is not abundant may take examining hundreds of logs(4)

Food

rotting wood; recorded from dozens of tree spp. but seems to prefer pine(4)

Remarks

not a house pest; rather, a recycler of nutrients in decomposing wood

Internet References

Rotting logs, wood roaches and parental care, by L.S. Fink

Species profile(2)

Works Cited

1.	Ecological niche conservation and differentiation in the wood-feeding cockroaches, Cryptocercus, in the United States Kambhampati S., Peterson A.T. 2007. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 90: 457–466.

2.	Urban entomology Ebeling W. 1978. University of California Division of Agricultural Sciences: 695 pp.

3.	Three new species of the wood roach, Cryptocercus (Blattodea: Cryptocercidae), from the eastern United States Burnside C.A., Smith P.T., Kambhampati S. 1999. J. Kansas Entomol. Soc. 72: 361-378.

4.	The range of the eastern woodeating cockroach, Cryptocercus punctulatus Scudder (Blattaria: Cryptocercidae) in the United States Folkerts G.W. 2006. Entomological News 117:101-108.

Contributed by Troy Bartlett on 16 February, 2004 - 12:32pm
Additional contributions by Hannah Nendick-Mason, Bug Eric, v belov
Last updated 18 May, 2013 - 3:21pm

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