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Sticker of Florida woods cockroach
Bug card No. 0525 of 1,500

Florida woods cockroach

Eurycotis floridana
Eats: Leftovers and dead thingsCockroaches and termitesForests and woods6 legs

The Florida woods cockroach is a big, dark brown cockroach that lives in warm, damp woods. It moves slowly and has only tiny wings, so it cannot fly. Its special trick is a very stinky spray, just like a skunk.

Lives in
Florida and nearby warm parts of the southeastern United States, and the West Indies
Length
3 to 4 cm (1.2 to 1.6 in)
Top speed
about 3.5 km/h (2.2 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless, but it can squirt a smelly spray that stings if it gets in your eyes. Leave it alone and it will leave you alone.
What does it eat?
Like most cockroaches, it eats bits of dead plants and leftovers it finds in old logs and leaves.
For real!Photo of Florida woods cockroach
Picture by Arthur Windsor. CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Florida woods cockroach about 4 cm long (1.6 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 7 grains of rice in a rowcould run across a dinner table in 1 secondsmoves 24 times its own body length every second

How big is Florida woods cockroach compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

When it is scared, it can shoot its smelly spray up to one metre away.

2

The spray also works as an alarm that tells other cockroaches nearby to run.

3

The biggest one ever found in a Florida cockroach contest was 6.2 centimetres long.

4

It often sits on palmetto trees, which is why some people call it the palmetto bug.

5

The mother lays her eggs in a little brown case that holds about 21 to 23 eggs and buries it in soil or rotting wood.

you asked

Most asked questions about Florida woods cockroach

?Is the Florida woods cockroach dangerous?

No. Its spray smells awful and can sting your eyes, but it is not harmful.

?Can the Florida woods cockroach fly?

No. Its front wings are tiny and it has no back wings at all.

?Why is it called a skunk roach?

Because it can spray a very bad smell when it is scared, just like a skunk.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Eurycotis floridana
Group
Cockroaches and termites
Family
Blattidae
Classification
Insecta > Blattodea > Blattidae
Lives on
North America
Also known as
Florida skunk roach, Florida stinkroach, Skunk cockroach, Palmetto bug

Where the facts come from

  1. Florida woods cockroach (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 Arthur Windsor. CC BY 4.0, 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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