Life Cycle of Cockroaches – Imaluop

Hi, now we are going to discuss the life cycle of cockroaches and we should know about their life cycle because cockroaches are a member of insects and it will help to understand about the life cycle of other insects also. 

One more interesting fact about cockroaches is that cockroaches are very ancient insects so they were also present during the time, and most animals of that time now do not exist.  

Life Cycle of Cockroaches: 

First Stage: Egg Stage: 

In females cockroach a special shell present in abdominal region which contains the eggs and know as ootheca and it act as a cocoon in which around 50 fertilized eggs present. Because the eggs need to give protection against external factors and the ootheca prevent the eggs from any type of mechanical injury.

The eggs in females cockroach remain inside the egg shell or ootheca until the eggs do not reach at nymph stage. On average in an ootheca around 50 eggs can be present but it is not the same for all cases, the maximum number of eggs can be accommodated in an ootheca varies from species to species.

With time the eggs develop further and reach at nymph stage but the time required for reaching to nymph depends upon the environment in which they develop, sometimes they reach at nymph stage very fast while sometimes it takes very much time. 

Second Stage: Nymph Stage: 

When the eggs hatch very tiny sized insects come out from the eggs which is the second stage of the cockroach life cycle. The nymph stage goes through several moulting and in each moulting they shed their skin and moult further several times and after each moulting they change their body appearance, after each moulting their body becomes whitish in color.

After each moulting their body size increases and gradually their exoskeleton becomes more rigid and dark in colour and they reach towards the adult stage slowly. With time they become more mature but different species of cockroach spend different times on their nymph stage, some species moult very fast while some species take a very long time in the nymph stage.

The time period for nymph stage not only depends on the species, environmental factors also impact on their nymph stage and presence of predators also control the phase.

After each moulting their different body parts like wings, limbs become more developed and in general the time required for finishing the nymph stage range from 11 months to 14 months and after that time their different body parts become mature and they reach at adult stage. 

Third Stage: Adult Stage: 

In the nymph stage their wings are not well developed, they are weak and not highly vascularized so they can not use their wings for flying but in the adult stage their wings get much stronger and vascularized to use them for flying.

After they attain adulthood they become mature for reproduction with time and the lifespan of cockroaches varies from species to species, in some species they can live only a few months while some species can live a few years.

Adult cockroaches become active during the night time and search for food and they eat all types of food so they are nocturnal and they leave a special smell.

The female cockroach can produce a large number of eggs during their reproductive period and during their whole lifespan they can give birth from 300 to 400 offspring and this feature gives them the power of existence even in very extreme conditions. 

Some Special Facts About Cockroach: 

In our surroundings we see the cockroaches are not so large so we can think that they have average size but in actual some species of cockroach can have very large size, for example a species of cockroach in south America size of the body of cockroach can be upto 6 inches and their very large wing will surprise you. 

Cockroaches can live without water and food for a very long time, they can live for a very long time without a head because their circulatory system is open and they do not breathe through nasal opening, they can breathe through the spiracles present on their body.

Read More: Life Cycle of Butterfly