Common Name: Smokybrown Cockroach
Scientific Name: Periplanta fuliginosa (Serville)
Class/Order/Family: Insecta/Blattodea/Blattidae
Metamorphosis: Simple
Introduction: The smokybrown cockroach gets its name from its uniformly shining brownish black to dark mahogany color. This species is apparently native outside the United States. It is common in the southern states, from central Texas eastward through North Carolina, but does occur as far north as Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa. It also occurs in southern California.
Recognition: Adults about 1-1 1/4" (25-32 mm) long. Color uniform and shining, typically brownish black but varies from dark mahogany to black. Both sexes with wings extending beyond their abdomens, good fliers, and attracted to lights.
Nymphal 1st instar black; 2nd instar dark brown; instars 1-3 with mesothorax pale/white but anterior and posterior margins dark, lateral areas of 2nd abdominal segment pale/white, antennae with 4-5 apical segments white.