page_title: Surinam cockroach
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Surinam cockroach / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: Nymph of Pycnoscelus surinamensis Português: Ninfa de Pycnoscelus surinamensis
context_page_description: The Surinam cockroach or greenhouse cockroach is a species of burrowing cockroach. It is a common plant pest endemic to the Indomalayan realm that has spread to tropical and into subtropical regions around the world, and in isolated populations to temperate climates where protective habitat such as greenhouses provide shelter for individuals inadvertently shipped in the soil of plants. Its populations are almost exclusively female, and it reproduces through parthenogenesis, having evolved several clonal strains from its sexual progenitor P. indicus.
context_section_description: Adults are around 18–25 mm (0.71–0.98 in) in length, and have dark brown to black bodies with shiny paler brown wings. The front edge of the pronotum (head shield) has a pale white band. While males are rarely produced, male adults have longer wings than females, completely covering the abdomen, although both genders are poor flyers.
  Nymphs are around 4.5 mm (0.18 in) long at birth, translucent white with orange-brown mandibles and spines, and darker eye spots than the rest of the head. The exoskeleton gradually hardens on exposure to air, becoming a glossy brown in 5 to 6 hours, while its underside and legs remain translucent. Older nymphs develop shiny black anterior abdominal segments, and roughened, dull black posterior segments.
caption: Nymph
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