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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Blattodea |
Family: | Cryptocercidae |
Genus: | Cryptocercus |
Species: | C. punctulatus
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Binomial name | |
Cryptocercus punctulatus Scudder, 1862
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Cryptocercus punctulatus, known generally as brown-hooded cockroach, is a species of cockroach in the family Cryptocercidae. Other common names include the woodroach, wingless wood roach, and eastern wood-eating cockroach. It is found in North America.
C. punctulatus are distributed within the Easter United States of America, concentrated within the Appalachian Mountains of Western Virginia, and Pennsylvania. [1] [2]
C. punctulatus are xylophagous cockroach that lives their entire life in moist dead logs it consumes. They excavate extensive galleries within fallen logs with the formations following the moistness of the log. [1] [2]
C. punctulatus is an oviparous cockroach in the family Cryptocercidae that excavates galleries in rotten wood. [3]
Field evidence suggests that pairs of C. punctulatus have a single reproductive episode during which they produce a mean of 73 eggs, in up to four oothecae. An extended period of brood care, which can last three years or longer, follows and includes defense of the family, gallery excavation, sanitation of the nest and, in the early stages, trophallactic feeding of the young.
Nymphs are born without the cellulolytic protozoan symbionts they require to digest their wood diet; consequently, neonates rely on adults for nourishment. The altricial extreme of the developmental spectrum in cockroaches is currently represented by C. punctulatus: this species hatches eyeless, with a pale, thin cuticle, is defended by parents in a nest, and is dependent on parents for symbionts and nourishment. [4]
C. punctulatus require 5-6 years to reach reproductive maturity. They may be considered "the best living model of the ancestral state of termites" and give insight into "the role of parental care in the evolution of termite eusociality." [5]
C. punctulatus is thought to be the most resemblance of the common ancestors between termites and cockroaches due to their gut symbionts.
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Category:Cockroaches Category:Insects described in 1862