We had a screen door on our house and no porch light. I was heading into the house from the driveway when I saw a cockroach fly up and onto the screen, evidently attracted to the lights from inside the house and intent on getting inside. I grabbed a baby food jar from an outbuilding and went back to the screen door where I found the cockroach, still pondering the issue of how to gain entry. Cockroaches usually don't seek out the light but this one did so that was interesting enough for me to want to capture this insect.
After capturing the cockroach and sealing it in the jar I noticed that it was light to medium green colored. It was clearly a cockroach but all the ones I had ever seen were various shades of brown to red. I dialed in to my internet at the time, probably AOL, and searched for cockroach pictures hoping to identify it.
I finally found a photo and write-up about this insect. It was a Cuban cockroach. Evidently they had only been noted in the United States in a few places in Florida, probably brought in during one of the refugee waves of the past few decades. They were not common at all and had never been found on the Texas Gulf Coast. There probably had been a lot of Florida men moving to the Houston area and they carried their insect bros with them, probably inadvertently, though you never really know.
I contacted the University of Houston entomology department and reported it. They were interested but not enough to need to see it.
I ended up keeping that cockroach inside that sealed jar until it died since I didn't want it to spread. After more than 30 days alive inside, a large collection of dots appeared on the inside of the jar. I wondered what the heck those things were since they were not excreta as the insect had run out of that a while earlier. Eventually the question was answered as the jar suddenly filled with activity from dozens of small cockroach kids, each looking for a way out of their predicament. The adult died shortly after the little ones hatched.
After more than 3 months, the last one of the baby cockroaches died. I eventually threw the jar out, I think. It may still be in a box of crap I have hauled around for unknown reasons though.
People in southeast Texas living near the sweltering bunghole of the state and the universe can thank me for the small contribution that I made to preventing the spread of an invasive species. The last thing we need is a cockroach that loves to mix and mingle in a well-lit kitchen.