📸 PhotoPhoto: Gary Alpert · CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons Source
American cockroach
Periplaneta americana (American cockroach · ワモンゴキブリ)
Not Evaluated (NE) on the IUCN Red List yet.
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 A body length of 53 mm is similar to the short side of a credit card (about 54 mm) (Comparison).
- 💡 It is frequently a pest in food storage and kitchen areas of large buildings such as restaurants, bakeries, grocery stores, and hospitals, and is also seen in yards and alleys in summer (Animal Diversity Web).
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
📖 1. Overview
The American cockroach is a large reddish-brown cockroach commonly seen in warm, large buildings.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
Its body length is 34–53 mm, with a pale brown to yellow band around the margin of the pronotum. Both sexes have wings, and the male's wings extend beyond the tip of the abdomen.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
It eats almost anything—including tree bark, paper, sugar, cheese, bread, and soap—and especially likes fermenting food. It spends 75% of the day squeezed into narrow crevices, and females form egg cases (oothecae).
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
It is listed under the Korean name 'I-jil-ba-kwi' on the National List of Species of Korea.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List: not evaluated (NE) — cross-checked with the Wikidata conservation-status entry
- • catalogueoflife.org — 4F34V
- • 국가생물종목록(국립생물자원관) ktsn 120000020881 — https://species.nibr.go.kr/home/mainHome.do?cont_link=009&subMenu=009002&contCd=009002&ktsn=120000020881
- • wikidata.org — Q267996
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:American-cockroach.jpg
- • animaldiversity.org — Periplaneta americana
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — Thomas Hegna · Public Domain Mark 1.0
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.