How many cockroaches hatch from one egg? What differences are the clutches of certain types of parasites?

How many cockroaches hatch from one egg? The presented question has generated a whole host of misconceptions and unreasonable conjectures. Some eyewitnesses claim that they saw whole hordes of parasite insects that come out of one cocoon. Let's find out how many cockroaches actually hatch from one egg.

What is a cockroach egg?

How many cockroaches hatch from one egg? We will consider this question later in our material. In the meantime, let's find out what the eggs of such insects actually are.

Cockroach larvae hatch from the so-called ooteka. The latter is a cocoon-shaped egg storehouse, which is covered by a fairly pliable chitinous shell. An ooteca develops in the body of a female cockroach. Under favorable conditions, several dozen eggs can form in such a cocoon.

After the maturation of insect embryos, the ooteca is separated from the body of the female. The shell of the egg store hardens quite quickly and transforms into a reliable protective capsule. Such a container for larvae protects the offspring of cockroaches from the effects of a number of adverse environmental factors.

Differences between the clutches of individual species of cockroaches

Before finding out how many cockroaches hatch from one egg, we will consider what morphological differences the ootics of certain types of domestic pests have:

1. Black cockroaches lay cocoons with a length of about 12 mm and a width of up to 6 mm. Such ooteks have a uniform dark color. On their surface there are characteristic scaly scallops.
2. The ooteks of ginger Prusaks have a length of about 8 mm. On their surface there are distinct bands.
3. American cockroaches lay the largest ooteks. Their length is at least 3 cm. Containers for eggs of this type have a rectangular shape. The surface of the cockroaches of American cockroaches is divided into segments separated by textured ribs.

How many cockroaches hatch from an egg?

So we come to the question of how many eggs can be contained in one clutch? Certain types of cockroaches produce different numbers of offspring:

1. Red Prussians - from 25 to 50 embryos in the ooteca. During the life cycle, each female is capable of producing no more than 12 clutches.
2. Black cockroaches - from 12 to 18 eggs in one cocoon. Throughout life, females perform a little more than 20 clutches.
3. American cockroaches - 10-15 clutches, each of which can contain up to 19 eggs.

How many cockroaches hatch from one egg (ooteki), largely depends on the presence of favorable conditions for the life of young individuals. Females can carry cocoons with embryos from 2 to 6 months. In the presence of too arid environment, lack of food, various kinds of radiation, chemical influences, other negative factors, the female may prematurely lose the oteka. In this case, not all larvae survive. Some of them will not hatch at all or will be born underdeveloped.

Do cockroaches take care of the offspring?

So we found out how many cockroaches hatch from one egg in different species. Now let's look at what happens to young individuals after leaving the ooteka.

Cockroach larvae are called nymphs. From adults, they differ only in the translucent structure of the body, modest size, as well as the inability to reproduce. Nymphs may be white for several days. It was from here that the misconception about the existence of a separate type of pale mutated cockroaches went.

Different types of cockroaches show the following care for offspring:

1. Black insects drop a cocoon a few days before the birth of formed nymphs. Females of this species show absolutely no concern for offspring. This is one of the factors that leads to a gradual decrease in the number of representatives of this species on the planet. After all, other insects, in particular, ants and the same red-haired Prussians, often eat young individuals of black cockroaches who did not have time to leave the cocoon.
2. The real miracles of caring for the offspring are shown by red cockroaches. Females of this species dump their ootics only under the most favorable conditions. They do this before the immediate exit of the ripened nymphs from the cocoon. Moreover, the females for several hours are near the egg store, protecting it from other insects.

Eventually

In the presented material, we examined how many cockroaches hatch from an egg. A photo of this process can be seen above.

In conclusion, it is worth noting that directly from each egg, only one individual insect is born. As for the edema, which is often confused with cockroach eggs, several dozen mature larvae can hatch from such cocoons at a time. However, ooteks are not eggs by nature, but only protective membranes that protect young parasites from adverse environmental influences.