The Brown-hooded Cockroach is a flightless, wood-eating cockroach of the Appalachian mountains that lives in small family groups inside rotting logs — an unusual level of biparental care and social behavior. Remarkably, it harbors the same gut microbiome as termites (with which it is closely related) and was crucial in establishing the evolutionary link between cockroaches and termites. Young nymphs must obtain gut symbionts by feeding on parent fecal material.
Habitat
Rotting logs in moist Appalachian forests
Diet
Adults and nymphs: rotting wood cellulose
How common
Uncommon
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