for N O V E M B E R German cockroach PROPER NAME: Order Dictyoptera, Family Blattellidae, Blattella germanica. WHEN MOST PREVALENT: Indoors all year round. SIZE RANGE: Adults are 0.5 inches long [View magnified Insect] WARNINGS: Although roaches themselves are harmless, they may transmit bacteria and other microorganisms to food as they crawl over it. Roaches also give off an offensive odor in defense, and this odor may also ruin food or contaminate kitchen utensils. Roaches can also damage fabrics and book bindings by chewing on them. GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION: Cosmopolitan SOUNDS: None Although many people consider roaches quite disgusting, they are important recyclers and decomposers that actually help keep our world clean! Generally, even if you live in a building that has roaches (and most buildings in cities do have them even if you've never seen one!), keeping your own space clean and always putting all food away properly will prevent them from establishing in your area ... they may pass through looking for a meal, but they won't stay! Roaches are mainly night-active, so take refuge in dark places during the day. They are particularily fond of hiding in tight, warm, well-protected spaces such as cracks and crevices in walls and floors. When foraging for food at night in homes, they are attracted to areas where food and food scraps have been improperly stored. Female roaches produce egg capsules (ootheca) containing anywhere from 12-36 eggs. These capsules are usually dropped indiscriminently onto the ground a day or two after being produced, but some species will glue these ootheca in a protected place or carry them partially protruded from the back of the body. Young roaches, similar in appearance to adults but lacking wings and reproductive structures, emerge from the egg capsule in 1-3 months, depending on temperature. Both young and adult roaches are scavengers, feeding on a variety of materials including dead insects, fabrics, and human food. Maturity is reached in 2 months to a year, depending upon living conditions. Adults live approximately 10 months under favorable conditions, mating often, and capable of producing up to three generations a year. If food, moisture, and temperature are unfavorable, however, development of all stages occurs much more slowly. FAMILY RELATIONS a) Order Dictyoptera, Family Blattellidae, Supella longipalpa - the brown-banded cockroach b) Close cousins: Order Dicytoptera, Family Blatidae, Periplaneta americana - the American cocroach [TO TOP] [HOME]