Blaberus Giganteus – Biggest Cockroach in the WORLD!

Hello Gnees Army,

Good Morning,

Do you love cockroaches? Yes, I know you love them so much and they also the same. I also know if they suddenly landed ever on you, your soul would not leave your body

Apart from joking, let’s get to the point. Blaberus Giganteus is considered the Biggest Cockroach in the WORLD! The Central American giant cave cockroach (Blaberus giganteus) is also known as the Brazilian cockroach. In the favorable weather condition, their lifespans can last up to 20 months. These cockroaches belonging to the family Blaberidae. Today we will know about its habitat, behavior, distribution, and many more. So, Here we go…

How to identify these beautiful ladies and gentlemen?

The length of male cockroach can up to 7.5 cm (3.0 in) and females up to 10 cm (3.9 in). Blaberus Giganteus cockroaches are lightly built with flattened bodies, allowing them to hide in cracks from predators. Their bodies are brown with black markings with a wingspan of around 15 cm (6 in).

Both males and females bear paired limbs (cerci) on the last ventral segment, but only the males have a pair of tiny hair-like appendages. The wings of males seen flying most of the time whether the heavier females are less likely to fly. These cockroaches have lived since the Carboniferous coal forests about 200 million years ago.

Where they mostly found?

The Biggest Cockroach in the WORLD – Blaberus Giganteus prefers to live in quiet, dark, humid caves in the rainforests, often found in the same caves that house bat colonies. They are native to Central America and northern South America and can be mostly found in the rainforests of Mexico, Guatemala, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana.

What about their habitat?

Blaberus Giganteus is nocturnal omnivorous scavengers and will consume any organic food source available to them. Although they prefer sweets, meats, and starches, they are also known to consume other items such as hair, books, and decaying matter including dead trees, bat guano, and carrion.

Their breeding?

Chemical signals play important roles in their sexual behavior and life. The sex pheromone is released by the female to attract the mates that are long distances away. The male also produces an aphrodisiac sex hormone from his tergal glands that encourages females to come. Females choose the males with which they will mate.

Carbohydrate intake has been found to be related to male sex pheromone expression, dominance status, and attractiveness. Males are actively increasing their carbohydrate consumption to maximize their reproductive fitness and attractiveness to possible female mates.

After mating, the female Blaberus Giganteus stores the fertilized eggs in her ootheca, where they are hatched for 60 days. When the eggs are about to hatch, the female discharges the ootheca so the nymphs can break free and feed on their first meal consists of the ootheca. After eating enough to their capacity, the nymphs dig into soil or somewhere dark and remain there until they have molted numerous times and reached maturity.

Why they are so powerful and long-living?

When Blaberus Giganteus infected by various microorganisms, they have two defense systems of their immune systems. In this system, specific proteins are produced or activated by the existence of a pathogen.

The fat body, which is usually connected via storing and releasing energy depending on demands, produces several novel proteins when faced with fungal cell walls. Blaberus Giganteus’s immune response has a specific memory similar to what can be found in mammal immune systems.

This is useful for long-living individuals, as they have increased chances of encountering the same infection numerous times. The biological significance of these proteins is yet to be discovered, but they are known to play a role in the defense system against fungal infections.

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