Blaberus what now? What species is this really?

[Marc_C]

Firstly I'd just like to say that these are not my roaches or pics, I'm just trying to help someone out at their request.

These roaches were bought as death's head roaches (B.craniifer), at first glance most people who read up on feeder roaches and know anything about how many people call their B.discoid roaches Death's heads, would just glance at it and say " nope, it doesn't have black wings, its not a death's head." That is the very thing that I did when I first saw the pics, but then I gave it a second thought.

Pics were sent to Richie the roachman (These roaches were not bought from him, but he was still nice enough to help out) and he said that they were B.giganteus. Now every B.giganteus adult I've ever seen in real life or in pics have had a solid black square marking on their pronotum. Now, on top of that every adult B.giganteus I've ever seen has been atleast 3 inches long. This is where I started thinking that this was not a B.giganteus.

Look closely at the pics and you can see that the marking on the pronotum does resemble that of a B.craniifer. Take a look at this pic at allpet roaches to compare. http://www.angelfire.com/oh2/Roaches/BlaberusComparison.html
On top of the marking, the size of these roaches (about 2.5 inches) does more closely resemble the size of a B.craniifer.

What I'm trying to get to the bottom of is whether or not this could acctually be a lighter phase of the death's head roach or a hybrid or just some really small B.giganteus.

Any help or ideas at all would be greatly appriciated by me and the buyer.

 

[Marc_C]

Second pic

this is the second pic

 

[Jesse607]

I think it may just be a small adult B. giganteus. I have seen small adults in the cultures I have at work. But it could be a Blaberus sp. not common in the pet trade. There are a lot of Blaberus species out there, and they all look very similar. I doubt very much that it is a Blaberus craniifer.

 

[ArachnoJoost]

Hey,
That looks like a B. giganteum, it does not really resemble the craniifer. The picture below is one of my roaches, they were also sold to me as B. craniifer, but I'm almost sure it's B. giganteum (it's 3").
Greetz,
Joost

 

[Wade]

The roach in the pic Marcus posted looks kind of dusty...might be contributing to the lighter appearance.

Wade

 

[Marc_C]

Yea, the raoches in the pics are pretty dusty. I'll see if I can get a more clear pic.

The thing that is really throwing me off is that these roaches have the "death's head" marking on their pronotum. In every other Blaberus I've seen the marking is solid black with the exception of B.Craniifer. They do have a little clownish face.

Someone posted a pic of what they called a discoid x craniifer cross a long time ago, they also said that it was fertile. Can anyone remember who posted this so that I can contact them?