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| The Madagascar
Hissing Cockroach is found only on the island of Madagascar
off the east coast of Africa. |
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Madagascar
Hissing Cockroaches are found on the floor of forests in Madagascar.
Like most cockroaches, they are nocturnal. They hide under debris
or in fallen logs during the day. |
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The diet
of the Madagascar Hissing roach consists mainly of fallen fruit.
However, roaches, as a whole, will eat almost any dry food. Roaches
are decomposers and as such, by eating leaf litter and other decaying
plant and animal tissue and by breaking these materials down for
nature to reuse, they play an important role in nature. |
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A Madagascar
Hissing Cockroach can grow to a length of 2 to 3 inches and weigh
as much as a small mouse! The roaches are a dark chocolate brown
color with dark orange makings on the abdomen. Both sexes have two
horns behind the head with the males being more pronounced. |
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Madagascar
Hissing roaches are ovoviporous. The eggs are held (for at
least 60 days) and hatched within the abdomen of the female
resulting in live births. Females lay their eggs in a purse-like
capsule known as an ootheca. The picture on the left depicts
a female in the process of forming the ootheca. Once it is
completely formed she will retract it into a special cavity
in the tip of her abdomen. |
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| Although Hissing roach
nymphs are similar to the adults in many respects, they are
not just miniature copies. Nymphs of different ages also differ
from one another, both proportionally and in coloration. Very
young nymphs are white, while older individuals are a dark
brown. |
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The nymphal Hissing roaches must molt,
or shed their skin, six times to reach adulthood at the age
of 7 months. The emerging roach is whitish. It will gradually
darken to deep brown as its new exoskeleton becomes hardened.
Adult roaches never molt again. |
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Madagascar
Hissing Cockroaches get their name from their ability to hiss loudly
when disturbed! The hiss is produced by a pair of spiracles, or
breathing tubes, on the fourth segment of the abdomen (counting
from the front). The roach forcibly pushes air out through these
sphericals resulting in the vwey audible hiss. Adult males hiss
when fighting, courting, and copulating. Two types of hiss can be
discerned during courtship. Males will also hiss when disturbed,
as will females and nymphs. |
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 Listen to a Madagascar Hissing cockroach! |
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In addition to using sound
for communication, Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches use quite a repertoire
of postures and stereotyped movements. These include:
- Aggressive movements
- flicking their abdomen
- pushing with their abdomen
- butting with their pronotum
(horns)
- lunging with their entire
body
- Submissive behaviors
- Other behaviors
- extending their abdomen
- thrashing their abdomen
- standing on their toes (stilting)
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There are nearly 4000 species of Cockroaches (Dictyoptera, Blattodea)
in the world, of which only 25 to 30 (or less than 1%) have any
pest status, the rest are innocent members of the earth's fauna,
some of which are clean, gentle and peaceful! The Madagascar Hissing
Cockroach poses no threat to humans and is NOT considered a pest!
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