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INSECT FACTS |
Identification
The Giant Burrowing Cockroach is the heaviest cockroach species in the world. They are bulky shiny brown cockroaches with spiny legs. This wingless cockroach lives underground and is not a pest species. They burrow into these oil to depths of up to a metre. Males have a scoop in the thorax above the head, and females do not.
Other Names
Giant Litter Bug, Rhinoceros Cockroach
Size
Length to 80mm. Weight to 35g
Food
feeds on dead leaves and other fallen vegetation. It is beneficial to the environment by recycling organic matter.
Breeding
Female Giant Burrowing Cockroaches give birth to live young with up to 30 in a clutch - they do not lay eggs. The young cockroaches grow by moulting 12 or 13 times before reaching full adult size. Immediately after a moult, the cockroach appears all white except for the eyes.
Range
The Giant Burrowing Cockroach is found mainly in tropical areas of Queensland.
Notes
This cockroach is sometimes kept as an insect pet and is fairly easy to look after. They can be kept in a tank of moist (not wet) sand and fed with dead dry leaves, dried bark, grass and twigs. Water can be provided a rolled up wet tissue.
Classification
| Class: | Insecta | | Order: | Blattodea | | Family: | Blaberidae | | Genus: | Macropanesthia | | Species: | rhinoceros | | Common Name: | Giant Burrowing Cockroach |
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