A good guy with a bad name

Sometimes your name can give people the wrong impression. For example, as soon as people find out that a rakali is an Australian native water-rat, the term rat just puts them off. And a rakali is one of the cutest critters going. Similarly for cockroaches. They are automatically associated with spreading germs and disease. However there are a lot of native cockroaches out there who do not deserve that reputation.

The cockroach pictured below is a native Austral Ellipsidion Cockroach (Ellipsidion australe).

It is a daytime active insect. Unlike many other cockroaches it is not a scavenger but feeds on pollen, honeydew and mould so is a good guy around your garden and one of the native pollinators.

Beware the assumptions in a name.