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Diploptera punctata

Pacific Beetle-Cockroach

Multimedia & Additional Resources

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Image:	Specimen showing wings	69KB

General Information

COMMON NAMES: Pacific Beetle-Cockroach

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: RANGE India - Australia - Micronesia - Fiji - Easter Is., Hawai‘i

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Introduced - Recent, Naturalised; Land

SIGNIFICANCE LIST: ; Pest, households, disease spreader

KEY FEATURES: Uniformly dark brown cockroach to 17mmBL; wingcovers with small pits, usually reach tip of abdomen.

SIMILAR SPECIES: See Surinam Cockroach (Pycnoscelus surinamensis).

Cook Islands Distribution

View Distribution Map

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

Northern Group: Present
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

Scientific Taxonomy

Diploptera punctata (Eschscholtz)
SYNONYMS: Diploptera dytiscoides

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

More Information

IDENTIFICATION: Small cockroach to 17mmBL. HEADSHIELD uniformly dark brown. WINGS first uniformly dark brown, covered with small pits, without obvious venation, to tip or abdomen or exposing last full-segment.

GENERAL NOTE: Expels a mixture of Quinones from abdominal trachea when disturbed.

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
Rarotonga: specimen, 1929, G.Wilder, in BPBM ID J.Strazanac 1985; specimen+photo (#043, 026), c.1985, GMcC in NZAC, ID GMcC 8/2003.

References:
None recorded.

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB02, zM04a, 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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