Bug FAQBoll's Wood Cockroach
Parcoblatta bolliana · Order: Blattodea · Family: Ectobiidae
Boll's wood cockroach is a small wood cockroach about 11 mm long. It lives in pine woods, grasslands and even in ant nests across many U.S. states.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
Males have long outer forewings and functional hindwings, while females have short, pad-like forewings and no hindwings. Males show a shiny dark brown head, pronotum, and base of the forewings with sparse yellowish hairs; their legs and wing edges are a lighter brown.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Adults measure roughly 11 mm (0.43 in) in length.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
They have been found under pine straw in North Carolina, in dry cow dung in Texas, beneath old boards in Nebraska, and in both tall and short prairie grass in Kansas. First-instar nymphs are regularly discovered living in nests of the ant Cremastogastor lineloata in Kansas.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 15 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Oklahoma, Texas, Alabama, Illinois, Arkansas, South Carolina, Kansas, Missouri.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
What does this cockroach look like?
Males have long forewings and functional hindwings with a shiny dark brown head and pronotum, while females have short, pad-like forewings and no hindwings; both sexes have sparse yellowish hairs.
Source: Wikipedia
What habitats does it prefer?
It is found under pine straw, in dry cow dung, beneath old boards, and in prairie grass, and its tiny nymphs can live in ant nests.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Ectobiidae)
German CockroachBlattella germanicaCan spread germs or disease
Pennsylvania Wood CockroachParcoblatta pennsylvanicaNuisance, not dangerous
Asian CockroachBlattella asahinaiNuisance, not dangerous
Brown-banded CockroachSupella longipalpaCan spread germs or disease
Variable CockroachPlanuncus tingitanus
Amber Wood CockroachEctobius vittiventrisHarmlessSources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parcoblatta_bolliana
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-26 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-26.