YES! Finally found some!

Wow! Great find! :)

I've found native Parcoblattas living in close contact with ants as well... The species that does it is larger than the species that I find under log by themselves, too. Maybe this is a characteristic by which one can distinguish the different species. :o

 
Zephyr said:
Wow! Great find! :)

I've found native Parcoblattas living in close contact with ants as well... The species that does it is larger than the species that I find under log by themselves, too. Maybe this is a characteristic by which one can distinguish the different species. :o
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Once these bad boys (and girls lol) grow up I'll certainly be able to tell if they are different species. But they REALLY look alike right now, so who knows?

 
vfox said:
Once these bad boys (and girls lol) grow up I'll certainly be able to tell if they are different species. But they REALLY look alike right now, so who knows?
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They all look extremely similar if not identical until MAYBE the last instar.

I have P. pennsylvanica, poss. P. virgininca, poss. P. uhleriana/P. lata, Parcoblatta sp. "Tennessee", and I had Parcoblatta americana. Looking at one nymph of each randomly and even someone whose studied them his or her entire life couldn't tell them apart. :P

Oddly Pseudomops also are almost indistinguishable from Parcoblatta nymphs.

 
Really interesting, fun and exciting post, guys! I'm still waiting for my 2 Parcoblatta (probably americana) to mature. I was lucky to find them this fall. It's a 2 hour drive and I can't wait to make it again in the spring!

 
Peter Clausen said:
Really interesting, fun and exciting post, guys! I'm still waiting for my 2 Parcoblatta (probably americana) to mature. I was lucky to find them this fall. It's a 2 hour drive and I can't wait to make it again in the spring!
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My wife and I recently purchased this home and I'm still exploring all our properties nooks and crannies. We have just under two acres that include brush, field, forest, lawn, and fern beds. I have no doubt this spring will bring many welcome experiences. I just happen to be really lucky and have such a diverse property to explore!

Like I said before, these are the first cockroaches I've ever encountered outside of the city schools I work in. I never find live ones but man, dead ones certainly are common there. I'm going to see if the local city highschool will let me run some experiments and take samples this spring... :D

Hopefully I can acquire some new species in the process...except those little Germans...no thanks lol.

 
Well it was 34ºF when I got home from work today and I thought, eh, what the heck, time for a trek into the woods. I grabbed my little shovel and a vial and in I went. Long story short I spent an hour without seeing a single living organism until I happened across an old uprooted tree. The bark had started peeling and I pulled some away...nothing. I spent the next ten minutes pulling frozen bits of bark away from the side until I got underneath of the trunk and tugged off a hunk. With this I found a sub-adult Parcoblatta pennsylvanica (at least I am guessing, I can't ID differentiate between the Parcoblatta species before adulthood). I checked further but only found one. So far this is the coldest temperature I've ever found a roach in and I would imagine he was frozen nearly solid when I found him. It took five minutes at room temperature for the little guy to rouse and move about the vial. I added him to my little colony.

Now I also had a question for those of you that keep Parcoblatta species, especially pennsylvanica. Have you had yours over a year and if yes, did you allow them to chill during the winter months and warm them back up in the spring? I have been talking with professor Joseph Kunkel of UMASS and he stated "Parcoblatta go through some sort of diapause during the winter that needs to be broken in some way by an environmental cue that spring has come." I would imagine he knows his stuff but I am curious if anyone has noted this as a need for their development or if they still molt at a regular cycle without the winter chill?

 
vfox said:
Well it was 34ºF when I got home from work today and I thought, eh, what the heck, time for a trek into the woods. I grabbed my little shovel and a vial and in I went. Long story short I spent an hour without seeing a single living organism until I happened across an old uprooted tree. The bark had started peeling and I pulled some away...nothing. I spent the next ten minutes pulling frozen bits of bark away from the side until I got underneath of the trunk and tugged off a hunk. With this I found a sub-adult Parcoblatta pennsylvanica (at least I am guessing, I can't ID differentiate between the Parcoblatta species before adulthood). I checked further but only found one. So far this is the coldest temperature I've ever found a roach in and I would imagine he was frozen nearly solid when I found him. It took five minutes at room temperature for the little guy to rouse and move about the vial. I added him to my little colony.

Now I also had a question for those of you that keep Parcoblatta species, especially pennsylvanica. Have you had yours over a year and if yes, did you allow them to chill during the winter months and warm them back up in the spring? I have been talking with professor Joseph Kunkel of UMASS and he stated "Parcoblatta go through some sort of diapause during the winter that needs to be broken in some way by an environmental cue that spring has come." I would imagine he knows his stuff but I am curious if anyone has noted this as a need for their development or if they still molt at a regular cycle without the winter chill?
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I'm raising several species of parcoblatta currently and it seems like the babies from the species I collected around here are growing and doing just fine without any sort of wintering cycle. A few I got from a friend down south, though, seem to be "stuck" on their last instar. These were collected around the middle of the fall.

So I guess it depends on whether or not yours are captive bred. Maybe they will need a bit of a wintering cycle. You could split the group in two and see if the ones you keep indoors complete their life cycle as usual or not.

 
Zephyr said:
I'm raising several species of parcoblatta currently and it seems like the babies from the species I collected around here are growing and doing just fine without any sort of wintering cycle. A few I got from a friend down south, though, seem to be "stuck" on their last instar. These were collected around the middle of the fall.

So I guess it depends on whether or not yours are captive bred. Maybe they will need a bit of a wintering cycle. You could split the group in two and see if the ones you keep indoors complete their life cycle as usual or not.
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I separated about 10-15 nymphs and put them in my enclosed back porch. It ranges in temperature from ~25-60 F throughout the winter because although enclosed it's not heated. I still have water gel, rotten wood, dog food, and an orange slice in with them but I doubt they will eat. Professor Kunkel worked with Blattella germanica and said that they stop molting around 59 F and that I should expect a similar effect in Parcoblatta. He also speculated about wild roaches overwintering by producing glycerol in their blood to keep them from freezing solid. I would imagine this is likely true because of the one I found yesterday at about 34 F under some bark. It was not frozen but really cold, though the log was frozen. It's now active and just as mobile as the others.

 
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Mine seem to be spending a while in the 3rd instar stage. None of them have really matured into the 4th or 5th yet, and it has been about a month

 
Vulgaris said:
Mine seem to be spending a while in the 3rd instar stage. None of them have really matured into the 4th or 5th yet, and it has been about a month
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Professor Kunkel said "Parcoblatta go through some sort of diapause during the winter that needs to be broken in some way by an environmental cue that spring has come. In some species, giant silk moths such as Cecropia, that is a long cold event followed by a long-day switch. Each species has some natural way to signal that winter is over. In Parcoblatta the winter is spent with no molting even if you keep them in a incubator at 30 C. If they do not get the proper signal they never come out of that torpor. "

I would imagine that they need a period of pseudohibernation to give them the proper signals. Perhaps putting them in the fridge for a few weeks might do it. I'm just using my porch and will see what happens but if none of my warmed ones molt by march I will toss them in the fridge for a while. It does seem odd though because Parcoblatta extend well past the winter freeze regions, I wonder what happens in the south?

 
That's bothersome! hhahahah. I can't fit my cage in my fridge. Maybe putting them in the basement might do it. It is 58 F down there, and completely dark. As compared to their environment right now in my living room next to the heater :D

 
Okay so last night one of my Parcoblatta molted into what looks like an adult female. But looking again I think it's still a sub-adult Parcoblatta pennsylvanica. I'm fairly certain of the species now because of the lateral lines along the pronotum. I don't think other local Parcoblatta have that marking if I'm correct?

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Looks like a 4th instar male to me. But you would have to check the ventral side of the last abdominal segment to be sure of gender. It is still a nymph for certain

 
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Perhaps it's P. divisa? If it's not P. pennsylvanica it's probably P. divisa. Apparently the two have similar adult males.

 
Zephyr said:
Perhaps it's P. divisa? If it's not P. pennsylvanica it's probably P. divisa. Apparently the two have similar adult males.
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Yeah I just was reading that actually. I'll find out soon I guess lol. As for a period of cold to induce molting, doesnt seem to be needed afterall huh?

 
I think what we really need to do/ find is a key to the Parcoblatta species. I know Orin knows some distinguishing female characteristics. Any one else have some extra info?

Coincidentally, I have several very large Parcoblatta nymphs that were collected in Tennessee. Maybe out of the forum members we have here rearing Parcoblatta sp. we can get a good idea of what each species looks like.

 
Zephyr said:
I think what we really need to do/ find is a key to the Parcoblatta species. I know Orin knows some distinguishing female characteristics. Any one else have some extra info?

Coincidentally, I have several very large Parcoblatta nymphs that were collected in Tennessee. Maybe out of the forum members we have here rearing Parcoblatta sp. we can get a good idea of what each species looks like.
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I think that would be quite beneficial. I've searched for information about Parcoblatta species and how to differentiate between them; so far I've had limited success. It seems like there really isn't much in the way of images either. We should try and compile a photographic identification and information guide for our native dwellers. If I'm supplied with correct identification images I'd be happy to put together a spread sheet. I'm very adept with Photoshop and page layout programs.

In my mind it should be the images like they use for pest species with 3-5 development stages with an ootheca and an image of how to identify male and female adults of each species and differentiate between Parcoblatta species.

 
vfox said:
I think that would be quite beneficial. I've searched for information about Parcoblatta species and how to differentiate between them; so far I've had limited success. It seems like there really isn't much in the way of images either. We should try and compile a photographic identification and information guide for our native dwellers. If I'm supplied with correct identification images I'd be happy to put together a spread sheet. I'm very adept with Photoshop and page layout programs.

In my mind it should be the images like they use for pest species with 3-5 development stages with an ootheca and an image of how to identify male and female adults of each species and differentiate between Parcoblatta species.
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I think an image with the developmental stages would be good in theory, but visually there appears to be little to no difference between various Parcoblatta species nymphs other than size. I think there may be a difference in ooth size and number of eggs, so that would be a good one to include.

It seems like the main way to ID Parcoblatta are these little structures under the wings. Apparently sometimes these are fuzzy and that sets apart one group (I think including P. lata) from many others. I have a really good dissecting microscope I can offer to those hoping to ID their stock.

On another note, while transfering one set of my Parcoblatta from Tennessee to a new container I accidentally dropped a male whose wingpads were bulging. He seems just fine but seeing as he's my only male of this species, I'd hate to lose him. Anyone find this genus particularly physically durable?

 
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You usually don't need a microscope to see the identifying structures under the wings.

I find Parcoblatta are usually not very hardy when it comes to physical damage. When I cleaned out my cage, I dumped all the roaches into an empty plastic tub. They became over stressed, were sticking to each other's defensive secretions, and a few even died. If I had left them in there for much longer a lot would have started to die

BTW Zephyr - do you still need a few Parcoblatta? I never made up my mind. lol

 
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