often found in a bathtub because it lacks sticky pads on its feet and cannot climb the smooth sides. Oriental cockroaches are also found outside near water sources or in the garage, being quite adept at living outdoors. These roaches are quite common in the sewers, and may come into houses through the drains. If the crawl space under a house is damp, it becomes an excellent breeding location for these roaches. The Oriental cockroach has a bad odor that people associate with cockroaches. They will eat any human or pet food, garbage, or other organic materials.

The adult male oriental cockroach is about 1 inch (25 mm) long, while the adult female is about 1 1/4 inch (32 mm) long. This species is shiny black, and has no distinctive markings. The female has wing pads or lobes that can be seen behind the pronotum, and the male has wings that cover only about 3/4 of the abdomen.

An oriental cockroach female produces about eight egg cases (oothecae) in her lifetime. Each ootheca contains aobut 16 eggs. Early nymphs are a shiny reddish-brown in color, while older instars are dark reddish-brown to black. Developmental time from egg to adult is greatly dependent upon temperature and ranges from 200 to 800 days. However, under average conditions the range decreases to 575 to 600 days. Adults can live from 160 to 180 days.

This cockroach, while worldwide in distribution, is not commonly found in Florida. However, it is one of the more important pest cockroach species in the U.S. It is usually found in damp basements, sewers and crawl spaces beneath structures or in structural voids. It can also survive outside in freezing weather.

1. Antenna- long, hairlike
2. Eyes- 2
3. Head
4. Legs- 6
5. Wings- wings cover 1/2 of abdomen
6. Pronotum
7. Petiole- none
8. Abdomen- broad
9. Color-reddish to black
10. Other-armor plated look, also known as water bug

Life Cycle:

The female produces about eight egg capsules in a lifetime with each containing 16 eggs. She deposits this capsule within 30 hours after its produced. The nymphs emerge and go through 7-10 molts before becoming adults. There is usually only about one generation per year, which can take well over 500 days to complete. The adults will live about a year.