From the life of red cockroaches

It is unlikely that in our country you can find a person who would never meet a red cockroach. Not necessarily at home, but in schools, shops, canteens and even just on the street you can stumble upon a slender mustache insect, quite smart and always trying to hide in a secluded place.

But even despite such frequent meetings, the majority of the population knows very little about the Prussians themselves. And the red cockroach, meanwhile, is a very, very interesting neighbor ...

 

Prusak description and their body structure

Red cockroaches are typical representatives of a large sub-order of cockroaches. Their appearance, behavioral characteristics and biology are in many respects similar to those of most of their relatives, even those that other enthusiasts with pride and enthusiasm keep at home and carefully courting.

Due to the widespread occurrence of this insect has a lot of different names.Even if you do not remember all the national nicknames, only the commonly used names in different countries number more than 20.

Carrying the name Prusak in Russia, the red-haired cockroach immediately lets you know that it is somehow connected with Germany. So it is - the main invasion of cockroaches in Russia coincided with the Napoleonic wars, and it was believed that it was from Prussia that these insects penetrated into Russia.

There, in Germany, cockroaches are called Russians, suggesting the opposite direction of invasion.

The structure of a red cockroach as a whole is typical for the entire sub-order of cockroaches. The photo shows the main parts of the body of the insect - the cephalothorax, abdomen, head, of which only the head remains open when viewed from above - everything else is covered with wings:

It is interesting

Red-haired cockroaches cannot fly, but when falling from a height, they actively flap their wings, reducing their speed of fall and ensuring their normal landing. And still red cockroaches are very resistant to radiation, being the main candidates for survival on the planet in the event of a nuclear war.

A very important organ of the cockroach is the antennae, which are sensitive to odors and allow the insect to communicate with other individuals.The red-haired and mustache cockroach constantly cleanses this wealth, and with injury and loss of one mustache, it loses some of the information about the world around it.

Female cockroaches differ from males in a slightly more dense constitution and short abdomen. In general, they seem somewhat larger and more massive:

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The closest relatives of cockroaches - praying mantises and termites, have a lot in common in the structure of the body with ordinary kitchen guests. At the same time, upon meeting, the mantis will not miss the opportunity to feast on its neighbor along the systematic ladder.

The size of the red cockroach is small - only 1-1.5 cm reaches the length of the body of an adult insect. Compared with the majority of their relatives, the red cockroach is considered a small species.

A characteristic feature of the structure of the Prusac body is the cerci, small tail-like outgrowths at the end of the body. This is a sign of relative primitiveness, since cerks are mainly found in very ancient insects.

On a note

Prusaks should not be confused with larvae. american cockroaches. Large red cockroaches, occasionally imported to our ports with bananas from tropical countries, have even managed to multiply and form stable populations in some southern cities, but they belong to a completely different species.At the same time, red and long cockroaches need approximately the same conditions and therefore often meet together. In general, the brown color is the most common in the entire sub-order of the cockroach, and the red cockroach can belong to almost any kind.

 

Red pests lifestyle

Prusaks as a whole are quite defenseless against enemies. They can be saved from predators only due to fast running, which determines their way of life: in the daytime, insects hide in various shelters, and actively feed under cover of night.

In nature, red cockroaches are found in the Middle East and South Asia, although their home populations are much larger than natural populations. Due to the widespread use in the cities and dwellings of humans, the red-headed cockroach has become a true cosmopolitan commanderate, confidently capturing more and more new territories. In the conditions of cities, towns and villages, he feels even better than in the wild.

Prusaks need not so much for normal existence and reproduction: moderate air temperature (optimally - 20-25 ° С), access to water and food.Red cockroaches homemade die when the temperature drops below -5 ° C, what is the basis of the method to get rid of them by freezing.

In general, in the conditions of our country, these insects can only live in rooms heated all year round. Red cockroaches in the apartment settle mainly in kitchens and in closets, where they have access to food reserves, food left on the tables and water in the sink.

With a lack of normal food, they are fully capable of eating what is absolutely unsuitable for humans to eat. There will be enough glue on a postage stamp for a cockroach for several days, a rotting leaf on a home plant for a week, and the flour or sugar accidentally spilled behind a tile is generally a delicacy and a kind of food store for it.

That how many live red cockroaches, to a large extent depends on the air temperature in their habitats. At a temperature of about 20 ° C, cockroaches live for about a year, taking into account the larval stage, at higher temperatures - a little less. And during this time they manage to leave rather numerous offspring ...

 

Breeding

Red cockroaches breed quickly, faster than black and even more so - decorative Madagascar.They belong to insects with incomplete transformation, and miniature copies of adults emerge from the eggs of a Prusak, differing only in the absence of wings. This stage is called the nymph and corresponds to the larval stage of beetles and butterflies.

For two months of development, nymphs molt six times, growing with each molt, and finally turn into a winged adult insect.

Prusak eggs develop in a kind of packaging - a joint, which the female carries at the end of the abdomen until the larvae hatch, approximately 2-4 weeks.

When the hour X arrives, the female lays the edema, and 20-25 transparent white larvae emerge from it.

After a few hours, they darken, and on the back of the head each one has two red spots - a distinctive feature of Prusacks.

The larvae feed on the same food as adult cockroaches.

Each female in its 10-month life has time to endure from four to ten eostas and, thus, gives life to up to 250 new Prusak. Considering the fact that in two months each nymph also becomes an adult and can begin to breed, by the end of life each female can have many thousands of descendants.

 

The history of the conquest of the world

Very interesting is the victorious procession of red cockroaches around the planet. Due to their small size, rapid reproduction, the ability to live at moderate temperatures and unpretentiousness in the choice of food, they have literally spread over the world in just a few centuries.

The main distributor of cockroaches was and remains a man. It is believed that initially the Crusaders, or even before them - the Macedonians - brought Prusaks to their European cities in their bags and carts. And here, in the conditions of uncanny sanitation, cockroaches felt even better than in the wild.

Its competitors - black cockroaches - Prusaks ousted fairly quickly. Not only do black comrades not so quickly multiply, losing ground in the struggle for new places of settlement, the Prussians themselves are also happy to eat the wagons of black cockroaches, which develop unsupervised within a few weeks. As a result, today black cockroaches are found mainly in villages and on agricultural lands.

It is not surprising that today the Prussians have spread throughout the Americas, Africa, Europe, Australia and Oceania.They manage to live even where other living things can only live temporarily - on oil platforms, in underground storage facilities and warehouses. But best of all they feel it is in the dwelling of man.

 

Red cockroaches in the house: habitat and harm to humans

Any place in the apartment, dark enough, warm and calm, can be a shelter for Prusaks. In the ideal case, cockroaches find narrow gaps in which they can come into contact with the floor and ceiling, belly and back simultaneously.

In this case, the insect will feel completely safe, and the person is unlikely to be able to get it. If, however, you are “within reach of a watering place or food source,” then such a place can be called a real cockroach paradise.

On a note

The main thing that a cockroach needs in a house is water and a normal temperature. And they will find food for themselves anyway.

Red-haired cockroaches do not bite: in principle, their jaws cannot bite through human skin (but sometimes they gnaw horny skin particles in sleeping people, especially in children). The only trouble that red cockroaches can deliver is the spread of bacteria and molds that move on their legs from the garbage disposal directly to the dining table.

Prusaks can be distributors of such diseases as dysentery, gastroenteritis, tuberculosis and meningitis, and therefore, if they were noticed indoors, it is better to refrain from eating.

But red cockroaches can be useful. A huge amount of scientific research all over the world is carried out precisely on Prusaks, as on accessible and fairly universal insects. Therefore, human civilization is partially obliged by its scientific and technical progress to them, to the red cockroaches.

 

Interesting video about cockroaches and methods of self-control

 

Review of the most effective methods of fighting cockroaches in the apartment