About Supella longipalpa (Fabricius, 1798)
The brown-banded cockroach, whose scientific name is Supella longipalpa, is a small species of cockroach, and the most well-known species in the genus Supella. Adults measure between 10 and 14 mm in length. Their body color ranges from tan to light brown, and they have two distinct light-colored bands that stretch across their wings and abdomen. These bands may sometimes look broken or irregular, but they are quite noticeable; in some cases, the wings can partly hide the bands. Male brown-banded cockroaches have wings that fully cover their abdomen, while female wings do not completely cover the abdomen. Males also have a more slender body shape than the wider-bodied females.
This species has a fairly wide distribution. It is quite commonly found in the northeastern, southern, and midwestern regions of the United States. It is one of the most recent non-native cockroach species to establish breeding colonies in Britain and Ireland. Because brown-banded cockroaches require less moisture than German cockroaches, they are distributed more broadly throughout human homes, for example in living rooms and bedrooms. They are often found in private homes and apartments, but are less common in restaurants. They avoid light, so they are not usually active or seen during the daytime. An experiment conducted by Tsai and Chi found that brown-banded cockroach populations thrive best in environments with temperatures between 25 and 33 °C.
