Length: Adult is 25 mm
Colour: Adult is dark brown, almost black
Other Features: The tegmina (front wings) of the male covers about three-quarters of the abdomen and are darker than the abdomen.
The tegmina of the female are only partially developed and they appear almost wingless. This species of cockroach is less wary and more sluggish than the others. This cockroach prefers dark, damp crevices in such places as basements, utility and service tunnels and sewer pipes. It can climb the outside of water pipes to reach the upper floors in buildings. Since the Oriental cockroach prefers to live in colonies, great numbers may occur around water leaks in the basement, behind toilets, baths, or laundry tubs. Outdoors, when the climate is tolerable, this cockroach may be found in alley ways, under verandas or among piles of garbage. There are 16 eggs in an egg capsule and the female may deposit an average of 8-14 capsules in her lifetime. They are dropped indiscriminately after formation. The egg capsules hatch in 60 days and the nymphs undergo seven moults before reaching the adult stage. The Oriental cockroach can live up to two years.
