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Sticker of American cockroach
Bug card No. 0024 of 1,500

American cockroach

Periplaneta americana
Eats: Leftovers and dead thingsCockroaches and termitesHouses and farms6 legs

The American cockroach is the biggest cockroach you usually find in houses. It is shiny reddish-brown with a yellowish band behind its head. It is a super fast runner and hides in cracks and under doors as soon as the light comes on.

Lives in
First from Africa and the Middle East, now almost all over the world
Length
4 cm (1.6 in)
Top speed
about 5.4 km/h (3.4 mph)
On foot: Full & Tu 1991 (1.5 m/s)
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
It does not bite or sting. It is a pest because it gets into food and kitchens.
What does it eat?
It eats almost anything: crumbs, cheese, sweets, paper, glue, hair and dead animals. It likes food that is starting to go sour best.
For real!Photo of American cockroach
Picture by Gary Alpert. CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

American 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 0.7 secondsmoves 38 times its own body length every second

How big is American 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 can run 5.4 kilometres per hour. For a person that would be like running 330 kilometres per hour.

2

Each of its eyes has more than 3,500 tiny lenses that help it see in the dark.

3

A young cockroach can grow back a lost leg.

4

It can live for up to about 700 days, longer than other common cockroaches.

5

It has 522 different taste sensors, more than any other insect studied.

you asked

Most asked questions about American cockroach

?Is the American cockroach from America?

No. It first came from Africa and the Middle East and reached America on ships about 400 years ago.

?Can American cockroaches fly?

The grown-ups have wings and can fly short distances. Young ones have no wings.

?How big is an American cockroach?

About 4 centimetres long.

Myth buster

Myth: The American cockroach comes from America.

Truth: No. It comes from Africa and the Middle East and reached America on ships about 400 years ago.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Periplaneta americana
Group
Cockroaches and termites
Family
Blattidae
Classification
Insecta > Blattodea > Blattidae
Lives on
Africa, Asia, North America, South America, Europe, Australia and Oceania
Also known as
Waterbug, Ship cockroach, Kakerlac, Bombay canary

Where the facts come from

  1. American 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 Gary Alpert. CC BY 2.5, 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 [email protected] and we will fix it.

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