The Urban Pantheist

Forgive the blurry picture. I'd have discarded it but how often will I get a shot of an outdoor-living cockroach carrying her ootheca* in broad daylight? Well it wasn't so much broad daylight as underneath the picnic table that was hosting that day's AAZK meeting. Since we were all zookeepers numb to the sight of cockroaches, we didn't have the typical panic that many people do seeing this harmless little creature. Indoor cockroaches become pests because they are social animals (not eusocial insects with different castes performing different tasks, but animals that like to congregate together for other reasons). If you see one German cockroach, chances are there are dozens or hundreds more in hiding, breeding in cracks and feeding on your stuff. With this species, the spotted Mediterranean cockroach Ectobius pallidus** (I tend to just call them ectobius roaches), they prefer a solitary existence. If you find one ectobius roach in your house, well it just blew in, and it would rather not be there anyway.

* "egg case"

** "Pale one who lives outside"

Spotted Mediterranean cockroach Ectobius pallidus

Most of the time that urban people encounter cockroaches it's an upsetting experience, often for both sides. Roaches from the tropics have become some of the most persistent indoor pests. Businesses and homeowners spend millions on control efforts, usually buying temporary piece of mind before more roaches stream in from neighboring buildings not on the same control schedule. Ectobius roaches are from Europe, and they are strictly out-of-doors, as their scientific name suggests. Occasionally one or two will be found in a home, a car, or a business, but their presence is entirely accidental, and they would much rather stay outside. My own observation is that this species is increasing in the Boston area, but it could be that I'm engaged in activities that coincide with them more often (gardening, moving objects that have been outside all winter).


The individual in all these pictures is this year's nymph, identifiable by its lack of wings. These roaches are weak but able flyers when adults.


I featured Ectobius on my podcast.