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// Workers AI · dad joke modeIs the Balta bicolor a good dancer? It's a bug with two left feet, color me surprised.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Balta bicolor
A Balta bicolor specimen in Auckland, New Zealand
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Clade: Pancrustacea
Class: Insecta
Order: Blattodea
Family: Ectobiidae
Genus: Balta
Species:
B. bicolor
Binomial name
Balta bicolor
Hebard, 1943

Balta bicolor is a type of cockroach from the genus Balta.[1] Native to eastern Australia, the species has been identified in New Zealand since 2009.

Description

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Balta bicolor has a relatively pale face, occiput and interocular area, with dark antennae. It is visually similar to Ellipsidion cockroaches, and can be distinguished from Balta transversa by its deeper head proportions.[1]

Distribution and habitat

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The species is native to eastern Australia.[2] In 2009, Biosecurity New Zealand first identified the species in New Zealand (as Balta bicolour), after being found in an Auckland kitchen.[3]

Balta bicolor is typically found in plant litter or under bark.[4]

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References

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  1. 1 2 Hebard, M. (1943) Australian Blattidae of the subfamilies Chorisoneurinae and Ectobiinae (Orthoptera). Monogr. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad. 4, 1–129.
  2. "species Balta bicolor Hebard, 1943". Cockroach Species File. Retrieved 21 January 2024.
  3. MAF Biosecurity New Zealand (2009). "Pest watch: 20/02/2009 – 31/03/2009". Biosecurity Magazine (91): 26–27.
  4. "Species Balta bicolor Hebard, 1943". Australian Faunal Directory. Retrieved 21 January 2024.

Further reading

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  • Dahms, E. 1972. Type-specimens of cockroaches (Blattodea) in the Queensland Museum. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 16: 275
  • Rentz, D. (2014). A Guide to the Cockroaches of Australia. Collingwood: CSIRO Publishing. p. 260.