Amazonian Bark Beetle vs Boll's Wood Cockroach

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Amazonian Bark Beetle Boll's Wood Cockroach
Scientific Name Xyleborus ferrugineus Parcoblatta bolliana
Order Coleoptera Blattodea
Family Curculionidae Ectobiidae
Size 2-3 mm 12-16 mm
Habitat Gardens Woodlands
Diet Wood Feeders Wood Feeders
Regions Pantropical, common throughout South America Texas and the south-central United States
Conservation Not Evaluated Not Evaluated

Amazonian Bark Beetle

A tiny cylindrical bark beetle that bores into tropical hardwoods to cultivate fungal gardens. It is one of the most widespread ambrosia beetles in the Neotropics.

💡

Did You Know?

Females carry fungal spores in special structures called mycangia and inoculate new tunnels to grow food for their larvae.

Boll's Wood Cockroach

A small native wood cockroach from the south-central United States. It lives under bark and in rotting logs in wooded areas.

💡

Did You Know?

It was named after the naturalist Jacob Boll, a Swiss-American who collected insects in Texas in the 1870s.