I managed to snap quite a few photos of different cockroaches throughout today. For example, the roach that was spotted with Dr. Correa also appeared at my lodging during morning packing. The cockroach was near death, save for the occasional twitch of antennae and legs. It’s interesting seeing this creature’s presence around human settlements. In spite of all the fuss on roach pests, only a small percentage of the 4400 cockroach species of the world are household nuisances. The roach I encountered had a dark body with a front segment (pronotum) containing a large black dot. Another cool thing, its underside is reddish brown and its legs were spiky, giving a similar appearance to the underside of the American cockroach (Periplanta americanus) rather than a Blaberus species. Another dead roach was also found in our room, but it was quite mutilated. And the roach was wingless, either indicating a wingless species or a juvenile. In any case, identification for juveniles is difficult if not impossible since they all look the same.
Another cockroach sighting was at the Caracol Ruins, the sight of an ancient Mayan metropolis and home to the largest manmade structure at Belize. This roach was a golden color and quite small. I estimate it to be no more than one inch, including the antennae of the insect. The insect was found in the leaf litter near the Sky Palace of the archeological site and was quickly scurrying away from us, hiding beneath the leaves. I managed to wrap my hand around it, but was surprised to see it take flight for a short distance back into the leaf litter. The flight distance wasn’t very far, indicating that these roaches don’t seem to be particularly strong flyers and only use it as a last resort escape. Based on what I know, I’m guessing this roach is of the genus Cariblatta, due to the small yellow color.
As for another round of good news, I managed to capture a small cockroach with a body length about one inch, and antennae about half an inch long on Scott’s towel at Las Cuevas! The cockroach is golden brown in appearance and has no black dot on its pronotum. Rather it’s entire pronotum is black and smooth. This is a completely different and unknown species to me, and I’m excited to photograph and describe it, as summary of Belize’s common cockroach species is very lacking!
In my excitement, I tried to upload these pictures, but thought I had deleted them accidentally. That made me sad throughout the day as it thought I had lost so much progress. But technology surprised me, by bringing it up again in my computer!
As a final treat, while photographing near the lights at the Las Cuevas, I managed to photograph a Cuban Green Cockroach (Panchlora nivea), as well as unintentionally capturing an unknown roach that from a distance looked like a beetle.
Another interesting knowledge filled day has passed, from learning of Mayan history at Belize, to trying an exotic fruit (Phylodendron), to our van breaking down, and our improvised lecture session. Can’t wait to see what our first full day at the Las Cuevas will hold!