Cockroaches belong to the order Blattodea and among them, best-known species is Periplaneta americana. They play an important role in the transmission of different pathogens because of their way of living. The morphological and molecular identification studies of P. americana were not enough in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, especially in Jeddah governorate. In this study, P. americana collected from various locations in Jeddah were morphology described and sequenced using universal primers for bio identification of cytochrome oxidase gene (CO1). Our results showed clear and un-described morphological features before of P. americana male and female. The molecular analysis of P. americana showed two accession numbers with high similarities, “JQ267485.1” with 96-100% and “KM576926.1” with 92-96%. The present study provides important information about the morphological and genetic variation in P. americana species, which can be used in further studies of P. americana in Jeddah province.

Keywords: P. americana, Morphology, Molecular, Jeddah, mtDNA, CO1 gene