Unlike trilobites, trilobite cockroaches are not extinct.
- Trilobite cockroaches are usually dark brown, flat, oval shaped roaches that appear to have armour, and they sit close to the ground and are not usually fast movers.
- Trilobite cockroaches are from the family Blaberidae, the family of giant cockroaches.
- Trilobite cockroaches range from a size of 1 to 2.5 centimetres (0.4 to 1 inches) in length.
- ‘Trilobite cockroaches’ are named after ‘trilobites’ due to the females looking like the extinct, unrelated, aquatic species.
- There are approximately 15 species of trilobite cockroaches, all of which are native to Australia except two that can be found in Papua New Guinea.
- Trilobite cockroaches can be found in wooded areas, forests and gardens, and are often found underneath objects such as leaves, bark and wood or rotting vegetation.
- The scientific name of trilobite cockroaches is ‘Laxta’, or ‘Laxta Walker’, the genus named after the British entomologist Francis Walker, who worked for the British Museum in the 1800s.
- Trilobite cockroaches are also known as ‘bark cockroaches’, ‘woodroaches’ and ‘flat cockroaches’.
- Trilobite cockroaches live in little groups that communicate via smell and their diet typically consists of fibres from wood.
- Trilobite cockroach female adults do not have wings, while males do; therefore the wings significantly change the appearance of the two genders.
Bibliography:
Bark Cockroach, 2011, Brisbane Insects, http://www.brisbaneinsects.com/brisbane_cockroaches/BarkCockroach.htm
Flat cockroach, 2009, AustralianMuseum, http://australianmuseum.net.au/Flat-Cockroach
Trilobite Cockroach, n.d, Oz Animals, http://www.ozanimals.com/Insect/Trilobite-Cockroach/Laxta/sp.html
Nice new layout on your blog!
I have just started keeping a group of these…they have a good layer of damp hardwood sawdust/shavings and cocoa fibre, pluss moringa leaves, bits of apple, a littlee meaty fish food pellets, a bit of mushroom and a bit of cucumber….so far they are eating into the apple, and its very sweet to see how they obviously recognise and communicate with each other by their antennae. Lovely little critters , prehistoric looking.:-)