Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
Subscribe: RSS
German Roach Biology Blattella germanica (Linnaeus)
Adult German cockroaches are between 1/2 to 5/8 inch long.
They love tight spaces (Thigmotropic)
It favors warm, humid atmospheres, areas with temperatures are between 70° to 75° F.
It has an incomplete metamorphosis.
Three life stages the egg, nymph, and adult.
The entire life cycle is complete in about 100 days.
A typical egg case can contain up to 48 eggs typically somewhere between 30 to 40 eggs.
Adult females usually produce from 4 to 8 egg capsules during her lifetime.
At room temperature, one capsule is produced about every 6 weeks.
It usually takes 28 days for the capsule to hatch from the time it begins to form.
Formation of the next egg capsule usually begins within a couple of weeks.
The length of the egg stage varies from 14 to 35 days.
six to seven nymphal stages (instars) occurring over a period of 6 to 31 weeks.
The lifespan of the adult female varies from 20 to 30 weeks.
In one year over 10,000 descendants can be produced, assuming two generations per year.
The stage between molts is called an instar.
At room, temperature nymphs complete development in about 60 days.
Typical Adult females can live about 200 days.
The German cockroach is omnivorous they will eat just about anything table scraps, pet food, and even book bindings.
They will eat their own feces! (oprophagy)
They eat their own vomit! (Emetophagy)
They eat their own kind (Cannibalism)
There are distinct difference between male and female (Dioecious)
They produce eggs that hatch outside the body. (Oviparous)
Some roaches deposit the eggs and others carry the eggs along with them until they hatch.
German Roach Taxonomy
Kingdom: Animalia – Animal, animaux, animals
Subkingdom: Bilateria
Infrakingdom: Protostomia
Superphylum: Ecdysozoa
Phylum: Arthropoda – Artrópode, arthropodes, arthropods
Subphylum: Hexapoda – hexapods
Class: Insecta – insects, hexapoda, inseto, insectes
Subclass: Pterygota – insects ailés, winged insects
Infraclass: Neoptera – modern, wing-folding insects
Superorder: Polyneoptera
Order: Blattodea – cockroaches, termites
Superfamily: Blaberoidea
Family: Blattellidae – wood cockroaches
Subfamily: Blattellinae
Genus: Blattella Caudell, 1903
Species: Blattella germanica (Linnaeus, 1767) – German cockroach, blatte germanique
German Cockroach Sources
http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/urban/roaches/german.htm
http://ento.psu.edu/extension/factsheets/german-cockroaches
https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=102415#null
https://www.extension.umn.edu/garden/insects/find/cockroaches/
German Cockroach Control Equipment
Vacuum
Air Compressor
Crack and Crevice Devices like an AccuSpray or Airofog
German Cockroach Control Products
Roach Gel Baits
Roach Dust Baits
Roach Granular
Liquids Non-Repellant
IGRs Insect Growth Regulators
Pheromone Monitors
Borate Dust
Silica Gel Dust