Powder Post Termite vs Boll's Wood Cockroach

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Powder Post Termite Boll's Wood Cockroach
Scientific Name Cryptotermes primus Parcoblatta bolliana
Order Blattodea Blattodea
Family Kalotermitidae Ectobiidae
Size 4-6 mm 12-16 mm
Habitat Woodlands Woodlands
Diet Wood Feeders Wood Feeders
Regions Northern and eastern Australia Texas and the south-central United States
Conservation Least Concern Not Evaluated

Powder Post Termite

An Australian drywood termite that infests dry structural timber in buildings across tropical and subtropical regions. Colonies are small and produce fine frass pellets that are ejected from the wood. The species rarely requires soil contact.

💡

Did You Know?

Infestations often go unnoticed for years until structural timber is so weakened that it collapses, because workers consume wood from the inside out.

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.