Length: Adult is 10-15 mm
Colour: Adult is yellowish-brown
Other Features: Two distinctive dark parallel bands run the length of the pronotum on the adult and full body on the nymph.
The German cockroach is probably the most wide-spread species of cockroach in the world, having spread largely through the shipping of foods and other goods. Eggs are laid in egg cases with about 38 eggs per case. The adult female drops each case close to food, 1 -2 days before the eggs hatch. Mating only once the adult female can produce up to seven of these cases in a lifetime. Under ideal conditions, incubation of the egg case takes about 17 days, and a nymph can develop into an adult in about six weeks. The nymph (immature cockroach) moults or sheds its skin five to seven limes before it reaches maturity. The life span of an adult is 125 to 150 days. In an average home, there can be two or three generations per year. The German cockroach develops rapidly under suitable conditions, preferring a warm, moist environment. Consequently, it is frequently a pest in kitchens, food storage areas, and bathrooms. It feeds on a wide variety of stored food and food which may have fallen on surfaces undetected (e.g., behind appliances, sinks and counters etc.). Harbourage locations (places where the cockroach hides and rests) include crevices behind sinks, beneath service counters, under kitchen equipment, motor compartments, within electrical fuse boxes, inside telephones, and under broken plaster.
