Varieties of Home Cockroaches

Cockroaches are a large suborder of insects, numbering several thousand diverse species. But the most famous representatives were those that are often found in apartments and houses of a person. In Russia, home cockroaches are represented by three types: red, black and furniture. They deliver discomfort to people.

Pest Varieties

Many species of harmful insects and parasites live next to humans. They belong to different classes of the animal world, but they have one goal - to have a constant source of food. These pests are:

• apartment cockroaches;
• rats;
• the mouse;
• ants;
• bed bugs;
• lice other.

All of them belong to the synanthropes - creatures that completely or partially depend on a person and live in close proximity to him. In each country, the types of cockroaches are different. In Asia, it is an Asian representative of cockroaches, in the USA and Europe - American. Domestic cockroaches living in apartments and houses in Russia are also found in the CIS countries and neighboring countries.

Red cockroach

The most popular representatives of this type of insect live in apartments, private houses, basements. Another name “Prusak” was given to him because of the assumption that Prussia was his homeland. And in European countries it is called a Russian cockroach. The simplest nickname of the red mustache is stasik.

Description of appearance

A photo of a home cockroach clearly shows what physiological features it has:

• elongated oval body of a red tint from 15 to 20 mm long;
• small head with large ones located on it eyes, long mustache, powerful jaw;
• 3 pairs fast limbs;
• a pair of transparent wings, covered with brown hard elytra.

Cockroach structure similar, the main difference is in size and color. The Prussians belong to small cockroaches, significantly inferior in size to tropical counterparts.

Interesting!

Whites or gray cockroaches are rare in apartments. Most often, this is a nymph who has recently faded and has not yet had time to darken. Sometimes a gray coating on the body of an insect appears as a result of treatment with insecticides.

Stages of development of Russian barbel

The insect has several stages of development. After fertilization, the female carries a swelling - a shell on the posterior end of the body, which in a few days takes off in a secluded place. Translucent appear from it nymphs. Over time, they molt; with each molt, their color becomes darker. Complete conversion from the eggs it takes about 2 months for an adult sexually mature individual.

On a note!

Over its short life, the female is able to endure about a dozen ooteca, which accommodate up to 40 small cockroaches. Such fertility explains their numerous colonies and the ability to quickly restore their numbers.

Prusak lifestyle

Nimble mustachioed insects live in large families, preferring to settle in certain places:

• bin;
• secluded places under the bathroom, behind the pipes;
• kitchen cabinets and shelves;
• basement facilities;
• pantries;
• cracks behind the baseboard.

The main condition for the life of a cockroach is the presence of water. Even in the absence of food he is able to live in peace and taste all the objects that surround it, but not thirsty. Omnivorous and powerful jaws enable the Prussians to survive in almost any environment.

Black beetle

Large, similar to beetles, barbel are also related to synanthropes and prefer to live closer to a person. This species is found in the southern regions of the country.

On a note!

Black and red representatives of the cockroach suborder do not get along in the same house. The struggle for food resources and habitat forces the more agile Prussians to drive out and even exterminate their black counterparts.

Cosmopolitan by nature, barbel often become residents of apartment buildings and their basements. For large cities, the fight against cockroaches does not stop even for a minute. On the territory of Moscow, Leningrad and other regions there are many special services for the destruction of pests.

Appearance and lifestyle of a barbel

Black cockroaches from red ones differ in size and color. The dark brown or black body of the insect can reach a length of 3 cm. The shape of the back is shaped like an elongated oval, in females it is more round than in males. Two wings on the back perform only a decorative function. Despite the formidable look, the black barbel loses to the red-haired one in speed and strength.

Cockroaches are often found in rural areas, in private homes. From high-rise buildings, their red-headed brothers survive over time. Black cockroaches have to look for housing in another place. Beloved ones habitats are nooks in the kitchen, wet places in the bathroom, dark pantries and closets.

Reproduction and nutrition of a black cockroach

Black pests breed not as fast as their red relatives, and create small families. This fact prevents the rapid occupation of the premises and competition with the Prussians.

Life cycle begins from the egg of the ooteka, passes into the nymph and only then into the imago. The frequency of oocyte formation in females is low, which contributes to their rapid extinction when a person uses insecticides.

Interesting!

The main sign of the appearance of a black cockroach in the house is its specific smell, similar to the smell of moldy fungi.

Barbel is simply suited to food: what they can chew, then goes for lunch. In addition to food waste in the kitchen, they willingly eat:

• indoor flowers;
• wallpaper, paper;
• rubber
• organic waste.

The presence of a constant source of moisture is a prerequisite for the comfortable living of baleen insects.

Furniture cockroach

The lesser-known brown-striped inhabitant of Russian cities looks the same as the red-haired congener, which causes confusion between them. The insect gained wide distribution in large cities after the 50s of the last century. Furniture cockroach bears its name due to the main diet - paper and glued coatings in cabinets.

External differences and the habitat of the furniture pest

According to morphology, this species of cockroaches is very close to its ginger relative. It has the same proportions and body sizes. The color of the elytra is lighter brown or red, without interspersed spots. The wings themselves are transparent with brown transverse stripes.

Females are painted in a brighter reddish color and have an oval body shape. In males, the body is more elongated. The limbs of both sexes have a light shade.

Cockroaches move quickly, maneuvering between furniture partitions and bookshelves. Their main habitats are:

• offices and workplaces;
• Libraries
• paper archives;
• industrial premises;
• bookshelves and desks in residential apartments.

Breeding and feeding a brown-striped cockroach

Insects breed quickly and can bring large offspring in their lifetime. One female lays up to 18 sacs during her life, in each of which 10 to 15 eggs are formed. Translucent nymphs without wings appear from the capsule. After several links they become full-fledged individuals.

As a food, a furniture pest chooses everything that contains paper and starch. It can be wallpaper glue, bindings of old books, cardboard, dust of wooden floors. A prerequisite for living brown-striped barbel is the presence of water. Without it, they will not live for a long time.

Harm from cockroaches

Cockroaches come in many forms, but they are all vectors of dangerous microbes on your body and limbs. Crawling along different surfaces of a residential or office building, they leave behind themselves particles of bacteria that can get into a person’s food and cause poisoning.

For many people, the presence of cockroach nests in the room causes a severe allergic reaction. These insects produce a kind of extract to which allergy sufferers are sensitive.

To prevent possible health problems, you need to deal with domestic pests in all available ways: use effective insecticides by yourself or contact the health service for pest control.