Mystery Sri Lankan roach

[chandlermonster]

Years ago when I lived in Sri Lanka I found a truly unique cockroach in my house. Of course, American roaches have infested the island through shipping crates and are everywhere, but the species I found must have been endemic. It was neon bright, and colored purple and bright yellow with a similar pattern to the harlequin roach that I have seen advertised by breeders. I found it living under the corner of one of my bird cages and seemed to be eating bird droppings that fell around the area. I was much younger then, but I still thought it was pretty so I didn't kill it and it stayed around for a while. I would estimate it was about two inches long and had that exotic wide backed look that madagascars and dubia have. Does anybody know what kind of roach this was? I have searched on google and there really isn't much information available. Anybody have any experience with roaches from the region? This was in Colombo 7, if anybody knows the area.

 

[McPede]

Look at drawing nr 3, Neostylopyga ornata, is it similar to the roach you remember?
http://www.tolweb.org/Blattaria/8214

They can be found in India and I don't think it would be impossible that they also occur in Sri Lanka.
http://blattodea.speciesfile.org/Common/basic/Taxa.aspx?TaxonNameID=4701

Best wishes
Fredrik

 

[chandlermonster]

wow, that's very close. the difference is that the carapace was ~1.5x wider in the Sri Lankan species and the black in the illustration was BRIGHT neon purple. Perhaps it's a different species in the same genus?