Turkestan cockroach

Periplaneta lateralis (also Shelfordella lateralis, Blatta lateralis),^[3] commonly known as the Turkestan cockroach, red runner cockroach,^[4] or rusty red cockroach,^[5] is a primarily outdoor-dwelling cockroach native to an area stretching from northern Africa to Central Asia.^[6][7]

Adults measure around 3 cm (1.2 in) in length. Adult males are a brownish orange or red, are slender, and have long, yellowish wings which allow it to attract females and to glide.^[8][9] Adult females are dark brown to black, with cream-colored markings on the shield and a cream-colored stripe edging its wings; they are broader than males, and have short vestigial wings.^[9] The ootheca is 9–12 mm long, and it takes about 118–137 days for the eggs to hatch into nymphs.^[10] Nymphs are brown in front, black on the rear, and are wingless.^[9]

The Turkestan cockroach is primarily an outdoor insect, not known as an aggressive indoor pest, unlike some cockroach species such as the German and brown-banded cockroaches,^[9][11] though it will inhabit areas around dwellings where shelter can be found.^[7] However, in specific localities or tropical locations, it can become a significant indoor pest.^[11] Of occasional indoor interlopers, males are more commonly encountered than females, due to their ability to fly and an attraction to lights.^[9] In Arabia, it lives beneath stones in damp hollows, desert farms, and wadis, feeding primarily at night.^[12]

The species is found in Central Asia, the Caucasus Mountains, and northeastern Africa. It can be found throughout the area of Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Egypt, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kashmir, Libya, Palestine, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates, Russia (adventive) and the United States (adventive).^[13][14][15]

The Turkestan cockroach was first noticed in the US in 1978, around the former Sharpe Army Depot in California, followed shortly after by appearances at Fort Bliss in Texas and several other military bases. Researchers believe the species arrived on military equipment returning from Central Asia, perhaps Afghanistan.^[6][16] Since then the species has been rapidly replacing the common oriental cockroach (Blatta orientalis) in urban areas of the Southwestern United States “as the most important peri-domestic species”, with advantages of laying more eggs and maturing more quickly than the oriental cockroach. “They typically inhabit in-ground containers such as water meter, irrigation, and electrical boxes, raises of concrete, cracks and crevices, and hollow block walls.” They are well established in the Southwest and parts of the Southeast, and have been reported in the Northeast.^[7][16] It has become established in California.^[17]

• 
  A not so healthy light colored adult female
• 
  Adult males
• 
  Ootheca
• 
  Sub-adult male Turkestan Roach nymph
• 
  Female Turkestan Roach nymphs. Notice the variation in color and patterns.
• 
  Nymph
• 
  A recently molted nymph.