What does a roach look like? All Species Look Different.
Cockroaches are flat and they have an oval-shaped body. Cockroaches are common in homes and businesses because they provide food and shelter. They have really tiny heads that are covered by shields that resemble pronotum. Their mouth faces downwards and is backward.
Cockroaches are usually 0.7 to 3 inches long (antennae not included in their length). Roaches move really fast when compared to other insects and a few of them are known to travel at up to 3 miles an hour.
How Many Legs Do Roaches Have?
Cockroaches have 6 long and spiny legs. These six legs allow them to walk on nearly every kind of surface possible. Their legs are specially provided with pads that are situated at the cockroach’s tarsi. These pads help their movement over ceilings and walls.
Cockroach legs By Lucinda Gibson & Ken Walker – Walker, K. (2007) Australian Cockroach (Periplaneta australasiae), availabile online at CC BY 3.0
Most cockroaches have wings on their back but not all of them can fly.
The Genders Of Cockroaches
Male roaches are smaller in size when compared to females. Male roaches always have wings while in some species, females don’t have them. When females lay eggs, these eggs come with an additional shell called ‘oothecae’. These cases are dark brown and oval in shape.
Smoky Brown Cockroach laying an egg. Showing the external shell of the eggs, called oothecae. By Toby Hudson – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0,
Young Cockroaches
Cockroaches that are young are known as nymphs. These nymphs are extremely pale and haven’t developed a pair of wings yet. Nymphs need to molt numerous times before developing into adult cockroaches.
Young cockroach also known as nymph. By Photograph by d3j4vu (Transferred by Gobonobo/Originally uploaded by D3j4vu) – Own work (Originally uploaded on en.wikipedia), CC BY 3.0,
Common Types of Roaches:
There are about 4,500 cockroach species but four of them are most commonly found in households in The United States.
They are:
- The American cockroach
- The German cockroach
- The Oriental cockroach
- The brown-banded cockroach
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American Cockroaches
Unlike what their name suggests, the American cockroach can be found literally in any part of the world. They are about one and a half inches long. They may either be dark brown or browning red. Their wings are the same length as their bodies and both male and females have them. Males have lengthier wings as compared to their female counterparts. You can use this difference in length as a way to identify the species with ease.
American Cockroach. By American – cockroach.jpg: Gary Alpertderivative work: B kimmel (talk) – American-cockroach.jpg, CC BY 2.5,
These roaches nest in dark places, such as basements, garages, and attics. American roaches are also attracted to water leaks, bathtubs, sewers, drains etc. They can eat almost everything they find but they prefer trash. These roaches contaminate surfaces while looking for food as they are known to carry all sorts of bacteria.
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Brown-Banded Cockroaches
The adult brown-banded cockroach measures about half an inch. Females are dark brown while males have a goldish-tan color. As suggested by their names, they have light colored bands over their abdomen and wings. Males can fly while females can’t.
This species prefers warm indoor places. They often hide behind paintings on walls, hollow areas of furniture, and piles of cluttered stuff. They are also found around refrigerators and TVs, because of the heat that they emit. These roaches don’t need moist environments to survive as long as there is a source of water close-by. Their diet is usually rich in starch. They are often spotted enjoying glue from stamps or envelopes or even other products of papers.
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German Cockroaches
The German cockroach is way smaller than the American cockroach. Adult German cockroaches can be a five-eighth of an inch or half an inch in length. These roaches are usually light brown. They have wings but can’t fly.
They like moist and warm places to live. German roaches like eating meat, starch, grease and basically anything edible. They are quick at hiding because of their tiny size and they can find hiding places where other roaches can’t.
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Oriental Cockroaches
The alternate names for these roaches are a black beetle or water bugs. These roaches measure up to about one and a quarter of an inch. Males are really dark, looking almost black. Females have long wings while males have shorter wings that aren’t even the length of their own bodies. Neither can fly.
Oriental cockroach. By Alvesgaspar – Self-photographed, CC BY-SA 4.0,
Oriental cockroaches also prefer cool, dim-lit and moist places to live. They usually live in garages and go into our homes looking for food. They are also attracted to places that have pet food stored outdoors.
Regardless of the type of cockroach if you see one this may indicate more, that’s where cockroach control comes into place. Even worse, you may have a cockroach infestation so start digging up for more information. Use these pointers to identify the most common classification of cockroaches.
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