Are cockroaches really creepy?

As Halloween approaches, you can see spooky decorations everywhere: pumpkins, black cats, bats, spiders and sometimes cockroaches - among other terrifying insects. But are cockroaches truly creepy? If you think the answer is yes, let me try to change your mind.

Flying menaces?

    Many people fear cockroaches because of their ability to fly. Of course it might be frightening to see a big insect flying towards you, but do they want to actually hurt you? Not at all. 

    Some species - like north american wood cockroaches (Parcoblatta spp.) - are attracted to light, just like moths. So if you are drinking your beer at night just outside of a well-lit bar, chances are, they just smelled something nice, saw the light and went for it.

    But most cockroaches, that are capable of flying, only use this ability to avoid predators - they simply fly away when disturbed. Just imagine, how would a small cockroach interpret your presence? You are a big, scary creature, who might be able to eat that poor little cockroach. Of course you won’t, but a cockroach doesn’t know that. They are at the bottom of the food chain: birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and even other arthropods - like spiders - hunt them.

Thorax porcellana

    And lastly, although many cockroach species have wings, few of them can actually fly (or more like glide over short distances). And of course those wings can have a different purpose too. Females of the porcelain roach (Thorax porcellana) carry their young under their forewings in the first two stages of their development, during which time they feed on the mother’s body fluid (hemolymph). Yes, some roaches can be really dedicated mothers.

Ugly beasts?

    Many cockroaches are pretty simple looking: brownish body, long lengs and antennae. Despite the modest appearance, some people would call them ugly or even repulsive. I admit, their shiny, slim body might look like they are oily or greasy, but I assure you - similarly to snakes - it is just the appearance, they are perfectly dry and if you touch them, it is no different than touching a beetle.

Polyzosteria mitchelli

(photo: Jean and Fred https://www.flickr.com/photos/jean_hort/15672294482/)

    And of course there are some truly beautiful roaches too. The mitchell’s diurnal cockroach (Polyzosteria mitchelli) has beautiful blue and yellow colouration, the emerald roach (Pseudoglomeris magnifica) is - you just guessed it - deep emerald green and on the body of the austral ellipsidion cockroach (Ellipsidion australe) you can see many shades of yellow and brown with some white markings. At first glance, you wouldn’t even think they are cockroaches, right?

Ellipsidion australe nymph
(photo: Graham Wise, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ellipsidion_australe_(14332865437).jpg)

Smelly critters?

It is true, that some cockroaches have a typical “cockroach smell”, but does this mean that they are dirty, filthy little creatures? Not at all. Cockroaches use different chemicals to communicate with each other: to attract mates, to signal the presence of food or shelter. So the smell is just part of their everyday life, they don’t do this to annoy us. You might not believe me, but some roaches actually smell really nice. Eurycotis opaca for example uses a defensive secretion that smells like cherries, or more like those delicious cherry bonbons with alcohol in them. I kept this species as a pet for some time, and their whole enclosure smelled like Valentine’s day.

Do they still creep you out?

Our fear of cockroaches - or other creepy-crawlies - is mostly a reaction we learn through our lifetime. If we keep hearing from our parents, teachers, friends or most often from the media, that these animals are ugly, worthless and harmful we learn to despise them and all we can think of, is getting rid of them. Out of about 4000 known cockroach species, around 30  can actually be found around our homes and might be considered as pests. There are the other 3970 species that deserve our attention as well.

    I know that a few fun facts and pretty pictures may not be enough to make you like cockroaches, but I hope I was able to show you, that the word "cockroach" does not necessarily equal a brownish little creature hiding in the dark.

Finally, something truly creepy…

And as today is Halloween, I wouldn’t leave you without a frightening story. Have you heard of the emerald cockroach wasp (Ampulex compressa)? 

    It is a beautiful looking parasitic wasp species. Want to know how they reproduce? Well, first, the female finds a cockroach, injects it with her venom and after the roach is partially paralyzed, she chews off part of its antenna (licks off the exuding hemolymph while at it). Then by pulling the antenna she leads the cockroach to her burrow and lays her egg on the cockroach. The hatched larva feeds on the outside of the cockroach for a few days, then it chews its way to the roach's abdomen, where feeds on the the internal organs for about a week, finally killing the cockroach. After the pupal stage, the adult wasp emerges from the cockroach’s body. Here is a great video, if you want to see how this happens:

    Well yes, the beauty of nature. While I think it is a fascinating example of the variety of ways in which insects reproduce, it would certainly make a great horror movie. Don’t you agree?