which cover three quarters of the abdomen and are brown in color, and has a narrower body. Both of them are flightless. The female oriental cockroach looks somewhat similar to the Florida woods cockroach and may be mistaken for it. Originally endemic to the Crimean Peninsula and the region around the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, its distribution is now cosmopolitan.

Oriental cockroaches tend to travel somewhat more slowly than other species. They are often called “waterbugs” since they prefer dark, moist places. They can often be found around decaying organic matter, and in sewers, drains, damp basements, porches, and other damp locations. They can be found outside in bushes, under leaf groundcover, under mulch, and around other damp places outdoors. They are major household pests in parts of the Northwest, Midwest, and Southern United States.

Cockroaches have gotten a very bad reputation over the years because of how they look and the musty order that they create in large numbers or heavy infestations. They can contaminate food with their dropping or just appear unsightly.

The truth is however that roaches are mostly a beneficial pest when they are outside. 5 out of the 6 roaches found locally in DFW are primarily outside dwelling roaches. There is one roach however that has adapted to live off the waste/trash that humans create or make, and that’s the German Cockroach. When a pest has adapted to live off human these types of pests are called commensal pest, meaning they live off us/humans. Bed bugs would be another great example of a commensal pest.