What Do Roaches Look Like?
Cockroaches, nicknamed roaches, are super-prevalent insects that co-exist with people. They don't mind living in kitchens, jungles, cities or drainpipes as long as there is a ready source of food to scavenge. Once they appear, it is quite difficult to get rid of them.
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Identification
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Over 3500 species of cockroach have been identified on earth, 20 of which live in human houses. They belong to the family blattidae and to the order orthoptera. The insects in this order all have straight wings.
Features
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Cockroaches have flat, soft bodies. They have three pairs of jointed legs, each covered with stiff, bristle-like hairs. The hairs are used for the roach's sense of touch. They also have a pair of very long, curved antennae that they use as smelling organs. They tend to forage for food at night, prefering to be out in the dark.
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Size
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The smallest present-day roaches are about a quarter-inch long, while the largest ones grow as long as four inches. Fossilized roaches from the carboniferous period were about eight inches long.
Time Frame
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Female cockroaches lay oval egg cases once every 25 days. Up to 32 cockroaches can hatch from one of these egg cases. It takes three months for the young roaches to become adults.
Types
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The most common type is the German cockroach whose scientific name is blattella germanica. It is tan in color and reaches an adult length of 1/2 inch. Another very common cockroach is black, the blatta orientalis. This roach is also known as a waterbug because it likes to live where it is damp. It grows to be one inch long. The female of this species has short wings and can't fly. Both of these species infests houses, where the crumbs left by humans makes finding plentiful food easy.
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