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Sticker of Discoid cockroach
Bug card No. 0409 of 1,500

Discoid cockroach

Blaberus discoidalis
Eats: A bit of everythingCockroaches and termitesRainforests and jungles6 legs

The discoid cockroach is a big, tan cockroach with a dark patch behind its head. It comes from warm places around the Caribbean Sea. It has wings, but it hardly ever flies, and it cannot climb up smooth walls.

Lives in
Central America, the Caribbean islands, northern South America and Florida
Length
3.5 to 4.5 cm (1.4 to 1.8 in)
Top speed
about 3.7 km/h (2.3 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It does not bite or sting, which is why people keep it as a pet or as food for pets.
What does it eat?
Like other cockroaches, it eats many kinds of food, from bits of plants and fruit to leftovers.
For real!Photo of Discoid cockroach
Picture by Politikaner. CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Discoid cockroach about 4.5 cm long (1.8 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)
as long as 8 grains of rice in a rowcould run across a dinner table in 1 secondsmoves 23 times its own body length every second

How big is Discoid cockroach compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It is called the false death's head cockroach because it looks a bit like another cockroach with a skull-like pattern.

2

It can run about 25 times its own body length in one second.

3

Scientists used the way it runs and climbs to design little cockroach robots.

4

The young ones are brown with tan speckles and grow up in 4 to 5 months.

5

The mother keeps her eggs in a pouch inside her body.

you asked

Most asked questions about Discoid cockroach

?Is the discoid cockroach dangerous?

No. It does not bite or sting and it cannot climb smooth walls.

?Can a discoid cockroach fly?

It has wings, but it hardly ever flies.

?How big is the discoid cockroach?

A grown-up is about 3.5 to 4.5 centimetres long.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Blaberus discoidalis
Group
Cockroaches and termites
Family
Blaberidae
Classification
Insecta > Blattodea > Blaberidae
Lives on
North America, South America
Also known as
Tropical cockroach, West Indian leaf cockroach, False death's head cockroach, Drummer

Where the facts come from

  1. Blaberus discoidalis (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Politikaner. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.

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