Diet

• Periplaneta americana is an omnivorous and opportunistic scavenger that consumes a wide variety of plant and animal material.

• It feeds on decaying organic matter, fruits, vegetables, bread, other food products, dead insects and animal material.

• It can also consume materials such as paper, cloth and other organic substances when more suitable food is unavailable.

Range

• Periplaneta americana is now widespread in tropical, subtropical and warm temperate regions worldwide.

• In tropical regions, including southern Mexico, it can occur outdoors as well as around human structures.

Habitat

• Periplaneta americana favours warm, humid environments and is particularly associated with sewers, drains, basements, boiler rooms, steam tunnels, crawl spaces and other sheltered locations.

• Outdoors it can inhabit moist, shaded sites such as hollow trees, wood piles, mulch and accumulations of organic debris.

• In warmer climates it may live outdoors year-round, while in cooler regions it depends more heavily on heated buildings and underground infrastructure.

• The species is primarily nocturnal and normally remains concealed in cracks, crevices and other protected sites during daylight.

Description

• Periplaneta americana is a large cockroach, with adults commonly measuring about 35–50 mm in length.

• Adults are reddish brown to mahogany coloured, with a contrasting pale yellowish margin around the pronotum.

• Both sexes have fully developed wings extending over the abdomen, although flight ability is strongly influenced by temperature and environmental conditions.

• The body is flattened and oval, with very long, slender antennae and spiny legs adapted for rapid running.

• Nymphs are smaller and wingless, becoming progressively more similar to adults as they pass through successive moults.