A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
Eushelfordia pica
This was an amazing find for me!! I found almost no information on this rare cockroach. There was no common name so I coined one myself. This cockroach is basically black with an elongated white spot mid body from the outer edge of each wing toward the middle. The front tips of the wings (shoulders) are bright yellow as is the pronotum which has a large black spot in the middle. This individual was 2 1/2" (6.35 cm) long.
Found on a leaf 1 meter off the ground alongside a trail behind our house in the Amazon rainforest in SE Ecuador (700 masl).
Normally you can’t use the words “pretty” and "cockroach" in the same sentence. However this is a very striking insect. It took me a minute to realize it was indeed a cockroach. No matter what angle I took the picture from, I couldn’t get rid of the shiny look of the pronotum.
Spotted on Apr 4, 2021
Submitted on Apr 16, 2021
10 Comments
Thanks Neil. Yes. I was surprised. Too bad all of them aren't as pretty.
That is the prettiest cockroach ever! Nice find, Tukup!
I may have to change my mind about cockroaches, but probably not 🤔 Thanks Dwain.
Great find and picture! Very unique cockroach.
Unfortunately not typical Ecuador. All the other cockroaches are the same nasty things you see everywhere, but this really was a stunner. Thanks Mark.
What an absolute stunner of a blatid. Typical Ecuador I suppose. ;-)
Thanks Brian. I was just thinking I should have picked it up to see if it stinks like the similar sized and built Death's Head Cockroaches. They are nasty. I guess I'll just suppose something this pretty wouldn't stink :-)
Wow! Why cant all cockroaches look like this? Awesome spotting, Tukup!
Thanks Sukanya. Unfortunately, this is the exception and the only one I've ever seen. All the rest are "less than attractive," including the abundant Death's Head Cockroaches. It was a nice change :-)
Great find, Tukup. Jungle cockroaches are quite attractive, I see.