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Periplaneta americana

Kararu

American Cockroach

Multimedia & Additional Resources

Type	Description	Download
Image:	Adult	52KB
Image:	Adult, young and moult	46KB
Image:	Adult moulting	66KB

General Information

COMMON NAMES: American Cockroach; German Americkanische Schabe; French Blatte américaine

TRADITIONAL NAMES: Kararu (RR), Kararū / ‘Ue‘ue / Kōkōrōti (MG), Karauka (MK), Kararū (MT), Ka‘a (AK), Potipoti (TS TW), Popolonga (PK)

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE Africa; EXOTIC EXOTIC circumglobal, incl. New Caledonia - Easter, Hawai‘i

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Introduced - Recent, Naturalised; S.Group - v.common; N.Group - common; Land, horticultural

SIGNIFICANCE LIST: ; Serious domestic pest

KEY FEATURES: The common cockroach of houses and buildings. A large brown cockroach, to 4cmBL, with long spiny legs. Headsheild with pale markings, often on anterior edge and branching up the midline.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Australian Cockroach (Periplaneta australasiae) had headshield (=pronotum) dark with complete contrasting yellow ring in from the edge (vs. ring less distinct); wingcover with yellow tapering stripe on front outer section (vs. uniformly brown). Brunnea Cockroach (Periplaneta brunnea) indistinguishable without very close inspection, differs in terminal plate (=supra-anal plate) narrow sharp and notched (vs. not notched in male, wide notch in female).

Enlarged Image of 'Periplaneta americana'

Cook Islands Distribution

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Southern Group: Present Makatea:
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
++++	++++		++++

Northern Group:
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW
			++++

Key to Symbols

blank	no data
-	absent	L	localised
X	extinct 'naturally'	W	widespread
XQi	quarantine intercepted	R	recent
XQe	eradicated	?	query preceding category
P	present	T?	taxonomic query
S	seasonal	nn	present, said to have no name
O	occasional	?1	present, name not investigated
++++	very common	?2	presence not verified, no name recorded
+++	common	N/A	absent, name not expected
++	uncommon
+	rare
Cook Islands islands: RR =Rarotonga, MG = Mangaia, AT =‘Ātiu, MK=Ma‘uke, MT=Miti‘āro, AK=Aitutaki, PL=Palmerston, PN=Penrhyn, MN=Manuae, TK=Takūtea, TN=Tongareva (TS=Tongaleva Spoken, TW=Tongareva Written, they say "el" but write "r"), MH=Manihiki, RK=Rakahanga, PK=Pukapuka, NS=Nassau, SW=Suwarrow. After a Polynesian name: ^=orthography query. Countries and other: FIJ=Fiji, WT=Wallis & Futuna, SAM=Samoa, TON=Tonga, NIU=Niue, CK=Cook Islands, CKM=Cook Islands Māori, FP=French Polynesia, AUS=Australs, SOC=Societies, TAH=Tahiti, TUA=Tuamotus, MQS=Marquesas, MNG=Mangareva, PIT=Pitcain group, EAS=Easter Island, HAW=Hawai‘i, NZ=New Zealand, NZM=New Zealand Māori

Pests & Hosts

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Relationship	Pests
Parasitoid (biocontrol) of cockroaches	Ampulex compressa, Aprostocetus hagenowii, Evania appendigaster,

Scientific Taxonomy

Periplaneta americana (Linnaeus, 1758)
SYNONYMS: Blatta americana

TAXONOMY: ANIMALIA; ARTHROPODA; ATELOCERATA; HEXAPODA; INSECTA; PTERYGOTA; Blattodea; BLATTIDAE

More Information

SIGNIFICANCE NOTES -
NEGATIVE SIGNIFICANCE: Serious domestic pest. Comments: NBSAP - Te Au-o-Tonga (6 of 11 animal pests), NBSAP - Takitumu (4 of 9 animal pests), NBSAP - Puaikura (7 of 12 animal pests), NBSAP - Aitutaki (2 of 10 animal pests), NBSAP - Mauke (4 of 10 animals), NBSAP - Mitiaro (4 of 9 animals)

IDENTIFICATION: Cockroach to 4cm. COLOUR usually mid-brown, with pale markings on headshield (usually contrasting, and often forming a fine anchor-shape anteriorly). WINGS FIRST hard, uniform brown.

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
Rarotonga: BESO specimens definite americana, and GM photo fits americana well with very fine anchor on anterior end (GM 2/2003 comparing specimens in BPBM). Pukapuka: fieldspecimen+photo, 2/2004, G.McCormack with ID as Periplaneta americana.

References:
Special Reference: W&D79

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB02, zM02, zD02

Web Resources

Citation Information

McCormack, Gerald (2007) Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga. Online at http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org.
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