However, if you have the slightest interest in these insects, you might have some interest in these creatures, as when you put them under the microscope, they are exciting.
You can find roaches in all different corners of the world, from Germany to America, these critters come in all different shapes and sizes.
However, they have certain identifying markers: long antennae, a shiny back and six legs of varying lengths.
So where can you find these various roaches? What differentiates the American roach from the German variety? What different sizes do they come in?
What colors are they? Well, if you want the answers to these questions and a lot more, then you should keep reading.
The German Cockroach
This is one of the more common types of roach, originating from the area of Germany, although they can be found in all corners of the world.
They can be found in warmer climates and are around 13-16 mm in length. They can often be found hiding in small spaces.
If you have any cardboard boxes lying around your house, then you might find that German cockroaches have made the gaps in between their home.
If you are looking for a German cockroach, then you’ll be looking in bathrooms and kitchens.
However, if you leave food and drink lying around, then you can be sure you’ll have a couple of German cockroaches visiting.
These insects usually come in a light brown color with stripes on the back of the head. The young ones are usually darker in color than the older roaches, and they have darker stripes on the back of the head.
These insects feed on a wide range of weird and wonderful food sources. Some of the things that you can find these creatures feeding on are book bindings, crumbs, soap and toothpaste.
This creature will usually lay around 30-40 eggs, which will be carried by the female in an egg case for around 1-2 days before hatching.
The female will only have to mate once to become pregnant. The rate of reproduction in this cockroach is very fast.
These cockroaches usually live anywhere between 100 and 200 days in total. These cockroaches are usually found in areas where there’s moisture.
The Germa cockroaches also have wings that, unlike other breeds of cockroach like Asian cockroaches, they do not use their wings for flight.
The American Cockroach
When it comes to larger cockroaches, the American variety is the largest that you can find, with the adults measuring up to 53 mm in length.
These roaches are red and brown in color, although they have lighter yellow bands found around the head area.
The American cockroach will usually live outdoors, nesting in damp areas such as flowerbeds and under mulchy bits of turf.
The most common places where you can find this type of roach are in the sewer underground.
They can usually get under the doors or through cracks in the window to get food.
They will usually try and eat scraps of food and crumbs. They have also been known to drink spilled sugar water that you might find in fizzy drinks.
These creatures are also prone to eat pet food. So if you are known to leave dog or cat food lying around, then you can be sure
This breed has wings that they can actually use for flying. The males and females both have this ability and will often use them to escape from predators or to find food.
These cockroaches can live for up to two years, which makes them one of the longest-living cockroaches in the world.
The Brown-Banded Cockroach
Next up, we have one of the smallest roaches that you can find, the brown-banded cockroach, which measures around 11-14.5 mm in length.
This cockroach comes from having a light brown band around the wings and across the center of the young cockroaches.
This type of cockroach can be found in drier locations, so if you look around in your food storage cupboards, closets or bedside cabinets.
They also tend to avoid water sources, so you often won’t find them in any areas where there is mold or moisture growing.
This creature is primarily nocturnal, where it will emerge from its home to search for food during the day.
This kind of cockroach will often prefer foods that are very rich in starch. This will include the cracks in wallpaper and adhesive on the back of an envelope.
This cockroach will have an average lifespan of around 206 days. The female will lay around 14 egg capsules during that time.
She will often produce this egg sack, filled with around 10 to 18 eggs which she will then attach to the underside of a protective surface and wait for them to hatch.
These eggs won’t take that long to hatch, although this will entirely depend on the conditions that they’ll be laid in.
The Oriental Cockroach
This next cockroach comes with a greasy black body that measures around 32mm in length for the female and 25mm in length for the male.
These cockroaches have a very distinctive look, with a very dark body which is stark in comparison to the lighter bodies of a lot of the other roaches on this list.
These creatures can usually live up to 6 months, which makes them one of the longest-living cockroaches on this list.
These types of cockroaches will often feed on decaying matter, something like roadkill or rotting meat.
These cockroaches have wings but they cannot fly. This is true for both males and females of this breed.
The Oriental cockroach comes with shorter legs at the front and two long legs at the back. This distinguishes them from a lot of other breeds of cockroaches.
Conclusion
We hope that this guide to a few roaches from around the world has triggered a burning desire to mind more breeds because there are many out there!
Hi, I’m Olivia Kepner and I am a zookeeper here in San Diego. Since I was a young girl I have always been fascinated by animals and species across the globe.
I used to beg my parents to take me to our local zoo every single weekend. Well, I say local – it was more like a two hour drive away. But they took me as much as they could, allowing me to fall in love with the animals again and again.
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