Woodlouse Cockroach vs Giant Burrowing Cockroach

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Woodlouse Cockroach Giant Burrowing Cockroach
Scientific Name Prosoplecta semperi Macropanesthia rhinoceros
Order Blattodea Blattodea
Family Ectobiidae Blaberidae
Size 5-8mm 60-80 mm
Habitat Forests Woodlands
Diet Predators Herbivores
Regions Asia Oceania
Conservation Least Concern Least Concern

Woodlouse Cockroach

A tiny rounded cockroach that strongly resembles a ladybird beetle with its domed shape and red-orange coloring with black spots. It is a harmless forest floor species. Its mimicry deters predators.

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Did You Know?

It so closely resembles a ladybird that even entomologists can be fooled until they look at it under magnification.

Giant Burrowing Cockroach

The worlds heaviest cockroach species at up to 35 grams and 80 mm long. Native to Australia, it digs permanent burrows up to 1 meter deep and cares for its young.

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Did You Know?

Unlike the pest cockroaches people dread, this species is a devoted parent — mothers carry live young on their backs and raise them in underground burrows for nine months.