5cm | January 19, 2011 | Armonia Nature Preserve, Limon Province, Costa Rica
I found this impressively large two inch long cockroach just like this, sticking out its abdomen from the side of a creek bank after dark. I found the behavior odd, and I suspected that it might be releasing pheromones to attract a mate. I really had no idea if cockroaches did that or not. After some recent reading, that does appear to be part of the courtship ritual. To initiate courtship, a female will call nearby males in this manner. Presumably then, this is a female.
A while later, I managed to catch her in a different pose.
Another pose
Checking the plates of the Electronic Biologia Centrali-Americana, I wonder if this might be Cacoblatta scabra (or a related species) from this plate.
Reference:
[book:0898158532]
Isn’t online Biologia great!
I probably encountered it before and forgot about it. Patrick Coin brought it to my attention in a recent comment and I’m finding it quite useful.
This is definitely a Blattid of some sort, Cacoblatta is a Blaberid. Additionally, judging by the pair of styli in between the cerci and the flattened depressions in the hind legs, this is actually a male, in the subfamily Polyzosteriinae. Gotta be Eurycotis if this was in Costa Rica.