Will American and Dubia Roaches Interbreed?

[AphonopelmaTX]

So I found an adult and an immature American cockroach cohabiting with my group of dubia roaches at two different times recently and I started wondering if these two species can interbreed. Does anyone out there know if they can? My first thought is no, they won't hybridize since they are from two different families within the order Blattodea and found in two different parts of the world, but not much would surprise me in the way of the cockroach. Especially when it comes to captivity where we bring different animals together that would never encounter each other in the wild.

I admit that this question does come from an irrational fear/ worry of the American cockroach so objective thinking and research has gone out of the window. Those things are so large and fast that I can't help but to jump when they get going across the floor and up the wall. If it wasn't for their ability to scale smooth surfaces with ease, they would be ok with me. I was able to chase the Americans out of my dubia bin and seal it, but the American roaches are still around. My worry is that I could have a new generation of dubia roaches that can scale smooth surfaces and haul themselves across a large distance at the speed of light.

Is it possible they could hybridize or have I completely lost my mind?

 

[Hisserdude]

Nope, not possible at all, they are, like you said, in different families, which makes it impossible for them to interbreed, especially considering that the Blaptica are live bearers and the Periplaneta are egg layers.

Generally only members of the same genus can interbreed, and even then that calls into question the "validity" of those species. An exception would be species of the genera Gromphadorhina and Princisia hissers breeding, though it's highly likely that Princisia is an invalid genus, it may even be just a different color form of G.portentosa.

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

Nope, not possible at all, they are, like you said, in different families, which makes it impossible for them to interbreed, especially considering that the Blaptica are live bearers and the Periplaneta are egg layers.

Generally only members of the same genus can interbreed, and even then that calls into question the "validity" of those species. An exception would be species of the genera Gromphadorhina and Princisia hissers breeding, though it's highly likely that Princisia is an invalid genus, it may even be just a different color form of G.portentosa.

Thank you for the information! That puts my mind at ease and now have a starting point to look further into the different roach taxa.

 

[Hisserdude]

Thank you for the information! That puts my mind at ease and now have a starting point to look further into the different roach taxa.

No problem, happy to help! If you really want to look further into the different roach taxa, then I highly suggest taking a look at the Cockroach Species File Online. It basically lists all the existing roach taxa, it has very little information on the roaches themselves though.