Brown Banded Cockroach vs German Roach

We get asked what the difference between German cockroaches and brown-banded roaches are and this is why we have put together this Brown banded cockroach vs German roaches.

They’re both domestic roaches no doubt. That means they cannot survive outside but rely on the atmosphere and conditions inside our buildings and homes for survival.

Both German and brown-banded roaches develop through three distinct stages – egg, larvae and adult. Because they are carriers of disease, asthma triggers and allergies, these two species of roaches are health threats.

Brown Banded Cockroach vs German Cockroach

Their differences are discussed in this section.

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• Scientific & Common Name

  • Tropical roach or Brown-banded cockroach(also known as the furniture roach, and TV roach): Supella longipalpa
  • German cockroach:are known as Blattella germanica

• Appearance

Brown-Banded Cockroaches

• Size: About ½ inch long.
• Color: Light or dark brown with wings that are brownish, but with tan coloration or lighter brown along the wing margin.
• Key Feature: A light colored band located across the base of wings and near the middle legs runs transversely from one side of their body to the other. You’ll notice this better on baby banded roaches than adults.

German Cockroaches

• Size: Adults are as long as banded roaches, but typically are a little larger than brown-banded roaches.
• Color: Light brown or tan with two, dark parallel stripes on each side of their pronotum (the shield-like structure that covers part of the head and thorax).

• Distribution

German Cockroaches: The most commonly roach in the United States.

Brown-Banded Cockroaches: Seen less frequently than German roaches.

The small size of brown-banded infestations in the US is said to be as a result of the advent and use of interior air conditioning, a condition that makes the indoor habitat less conducive to brown-banded than German roaches.

• Habitat of Choice

Brown-Banded Cockroaches

• Can be seen almost everywhere in a building or home.
• Their preferred locations include pictures, inside electrical appliances, underneath furniture and inside electronics.
• Typically, they opt for areas that are warm and dry like upper parts of rooms.
• They can survive in warmer and drier areas too, but can also live in less ideal conditions.
• Other likely habitats are hot water tank bedrooms, closets, dining rooms and living rooms.

German Cockroaches

• They prefer to hide around sinks, or under appliances, baseboards, and cupboards.
• They can be more prevalently seen in bathrooms and kitchens of restaurants and homes.
• They generally cluster together in large numbers inside crevices and cracks near warm areas with high humidity.

The two species are rarely found together.

 

Behaviors

• Like German cockroaches, brown-banded roaches dislike clustering together.
• Brown banded females can deposit their eggs in bunches if population is large.
• When faced with threat, brown-banded cockroaches may use their wings to escape from an identified threat although they’re not considered strong fliers.
• German roaches’ adults also possess wings they sometime spread and “glide” for distances that aren’t far. For example, from lower location to higher and vice versa. But, they do not actually fly although it may look like they do.
• Brown and German roaches females both carry their egg case at the end of their abdomen. But, the female German roach carries the egg case for almost the whole incubation time of the eggs.
• There had been times where female German roaches are seen carrying the ootherca even while some of the eggs are hatching and exiting the egg case.
• On the other hand, the female brown-banded roach will find a safe place to glue her eggs and leave them there.
• Lastly, German roaches are less likely to deposit their egg cases in bunches when compared to brown-banded roaches.

 

• Food Preferences

Like all roaches, they are omnivores; but, brown-banded roaches have an high taste for content high in starch.

• Life Cycle

Nutrition, temperature and competitiveness may affect how much time a roach will need to complete a life cycle and the roach’s reproductive potential.

Brown-Banded Cockroach

• Each egg enclosed in the case often have 15-20 eggs.
• The eggs laid need approximately a month to properly incubate before baby roaches come out.
• Mother cockroach will produce between 10-15 egg cases during her lifetime of about six months.

German Cockroaches

• Under the right conditions, females will lay a new egg case a couple of weeks she is alive.
• Eggs produced by the female hatch into baby roaches after a 30-day incubation period.
• These species are highly invasive because of their reproductive ability.

• Adult females live about 6 months, producing 6-8 egg cases that each contains about 30-50 eggs.
• The time frame needed to grow from nymphs to adult stage is about 100 days, during which the nymph cockroach will go through about 6 or more development stages.

What do you think of this Brown banded cockroach vs German roach guide. Did we miss anything?