Image of american cockroach, ship cockroach

Description:

I teach at San José State, so I figure I should document the wildlife there. I have never before tried to identify a cockroach. I have simply tried to put a reasonable distance between me and them. But I have seen these large cockroaches outside around campus, since I often teach night classes. Because of iNaturalist, I stopped to take a picture of this one. It was in front of the journalism building, Dwight Bentel Hall. Picture taken with my iPhone with dim lighting. I indentified it as an American Cockroach on the basis of outdoor habitat, large size, and relative position and length of antennae and back legs.