Cockroaches - Order Blattodea
This page contains pictures and information about Cockroaches that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.
- Austral Ellipsidion Cockroach nymph
Cockroaches are classified as order Blattodea. Most of them are beautiful insects although this perception is always outweighed by their name "cockroaches". They have long spiny legs, their antennae are longer than their body. Their body is usually flat and broad so that they can squeeze into very tight places. Adults may or may not have wings. If they have, the wings are membranous with toughened forewings which overlap left over right. The head is small and pointing downwards, concealed under the pronotum. So sometime their thorax are miss-considered as their big heads.
Most cockroach adults have wings but some species are wingless. Some species the males are winded but females are wingless. For the winged species, they can fly although not very often. Instead all cockroaches are very good runners. Most of them are active at night although some are active during the day time.
Cockroaches are scavengers, they feed on almost everything. Some species eat wood and digest cellulose with symbiotic bacteria in their gut. They develop in in-complete metamorphosis.
- Cockroach ootheca
The eggs are laid in ootheca, or the egg sac, which sometime seen attached to the end of the female abdomen. Some cockroaches give birth to live young.
A few species of cockroaches have given the group a bad name. They transmitted diseases when they occur in house and restaurants. They can contaminate food and must be controlled.
Classification :
There are five families of cockroaches and three of them are common in Australia. Up to now we only found three families.
Superfamily BLATTOIDEA
Family Blattidae- The well known pest cockroach, including the American Cockroach and Australian Cockroach are in this family. Members in this family are usually large in size.
Superfamily BLABEROIDEA
Family Blattellidae- Some members in this family the females are wingless. Most are active at night. Cockroaches in this family are relatively smaller in size. There are some beautiful cockroaches in the family.
Family Blaberidae- Cockroaches in this family has shorter legs. Their cerci are very short or absent. Most of them live just under ground covers and slow moving.
