Western wood cockroach
The western wood cockroach is a wild cockroach that lives outdoors. The male has long wings and can fly, but the female has only tiny wing pads. It comes out at night to look for food.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
Some of them hide in harvester ant nests during the day and come out at night to eat the ants' rubbish pile.
The males are attracted to lights at night.
The males and females live apart: the females and babies stay on the ground, and the males sit on bushes at night.
Its colour changes a lot, from almost black to pale yellowish, maybe because of how dry its home is.
Most asked questions about Western wood cockroach
?Does the western wood cockroach live in houses?
Not usually. It lives outdoors under rocks and in rotting wood, but it has been found in a house once in a while.
?Can the western wood cockroach fly?
The male can fly. The female has no back wings and cannot fly.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Parcoblatta americana
- Group
- Cockroaches and termites
- Family
- Ectobiidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Blattodea > Ectobiidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Parcoblatta americana (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Junkyardsparkle. CC0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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