American Cockroach

• It goes through 10 to 14 moults before reaching adulthood, one of the longest nymphal developments of any common cockroach.
• It eats practically any organic material, food scraps, paper and other waste included.
• It is an extremely abundant synanthropic species, found in sewers, cellars and towns the world over.
• fisiologíaIt can survive several weeks without its head, since it breathes through small body openings and does not need the brain for basic functions; in the end it dies of thirst.
• Despite the name, it is not American: it comes from Africa and reached the Americas on the ships of the colonial trade.
• It is the largest of the common household cockroaches, at up to 5.3 cm, and the adult can live more than two years.
• The males have full wings and fly when disturbed; the females' are shorter and they do not fly.
• The nymph takes between six months and a year to become adult, passing through ten to fourteen moults.

Skeleton type

Invertebrate - chitin exoskeleton (insect)

Habitat and environment

Warm, humid places worldwide — sewers, cellars and towns — though native to Africa and the Middle East

Birth weight

A newly hatched nymph, whitish and darkening quickly

Size at birth

An ootheca about 8 mm long holding 14 to 16 eggs; the nymphs hatch whitish and darken to reddish brown within a few hours

Sexual maturity

The nymphs moult between 10 and 13 times before reaching the adult stage; development from egg to adult takes from 168 to more than 786 days, averaging about 600 at room temperature

Gestation / incubation

38-49 days of ootheca incubation

Litter / clutch size

14 to 16 eggs per ootheca, with 6 to 90 oothecae produced by a female in her lifetime

Sources consulted: Terminix · University of Arizona Extension · PestNow · PeskyLittleCritters · PMC (life-history traits study) · Oklahoma State University Extension · UF/IFAS Entomology · Animal Diversity Web, Periplaneta americana · Fichas de manejo de Periplaneta americana