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Australian Wildlife

  Common Shining Cockroach (Drymaplaneta communis)





Common Shining Cockroach | Drymaplaneta communis photo
Common shining cockroach photographed against brick path, Melbourne

Image by Stuart Cunningham - Some rights reserved.    (view image details)







INSECT FACTS

Identification
The Common Shining Cockroach is native to Australia. It is a glossy black or dark brown cockroach with pale margin around the front half of the body. During the last decade or so, numbers have increased in cities such as Sydney and Melbourne where they often wander into houses, but they are not a pest species and not a health risk like some of the introduced cockroach species. If you find one in the house, try to put it back outside rather than kill it, as they are beneficial to the garden by breaking up leaf litter.

Food
The Common Shining Cockroach feeds on organic matter and is often found sheltering under eucalypt bark.

Range
South eastern Australia



Classification
Class:Insecta
Order:Blattodea
Family:Blattidae
Genus:Drymaplaneta
Species:communis
Common Name:Common Shining Cockroach