What happens if cockroaches go extinct

Aside from the German cockroach, other pesky cockroach species include the Periplanet americana or the American cockroach, the Supella longipalpa or the brown-banded cockroach, and the Blatta orientalis or the Oriental cockroach. You can try getting rid of them at home, but it does not mean you can eliminate the entire colony completely.

Some of them can be found in all sorts of environments like the forests, matted vegetation, and near the shores of water bodies.

Reproduction — Some species of female cockroaches can produce as much as offsprings in a span of one year. They usually carry their capsule-like egg cases called ootheca at the end of their abdomens. These may contain around 40 eggs at a time. Once the eggs hatch, the cockroach nymphs only need a short amount of time before they become adult cockroaches and have the ability to reproduce.

Diet — Cockroaches are omnivores, which means they can eat whatever is available. Most of the time, they prefer to eat sweets, starches, and meat.

They can also consume other items like human hair, toothpaste, books, and any rotting organism. Even without a food source, they can still survive for a month without consuming anything. How Long Do Cockroaches Live? She is also expected to produce as many as five oothecae during her lifespan. The eggs that come out from a female roach will have an average incubation rate of 28 days.

Also, German cockroaches pass through six or seven instars before becoming an adult. This happens within days, but the usual adult lifespan for both male and female German cockroaches is less than days. Oriental Cockroach : The female members of this species can only lay at least 16 eggs at a time and produce eight oothecae during their entire lifespan.

That means a female cockroach can only have at least offsprings. Also, the Oriental cockroaches can go through seven to 10 instars in approximately days. The average lifespan of the females can last up to days, while the males can only last for days. Get Your Free Quote. Quick Links hide. Turns out, the sudden disappearance of Earth's 5, to 10, cockroach species would have ramifications far beyond your filthy apartment. Worldwide, the insects are a significant food source for many birds and small insectivorous mammals, such as mice and rats.

Even humans eat them in some parts of the world. None of these animals rely solely on cockroaches for food, Kambhampati said, so they probably wouldn't go extinct, but their numbers would drop. Parasitic wasps, which specialize in parasitizing cockroach eggs, do rely entirely on the cockroach. Moreover, reptiles like the desert lizard and small insectivorous mammals like rats, and mice also prey cockroaches.

Though not directly, cockroaches are part of the food chain of several bigger animals like cats both wild and domestic , coyotes, wolves, reptiles, eagles and other birds. These animals and birds prey on rats and mice, and if their population will be affected because of the dearth of cockroaches, it will indirectly affect the population of these animals and eventually, the entire wildlife will be affected.

Besides being a food source for other living creatures, roaches have a more significant role to serve in the ecosystem. Forest roaches are expert in consuming leaf litter and other plant materials. The microbes in their bellies help them break down the degrading plant material which is indigestible for other creatures.

So if they all suddenly vanished, you'd notice. No more summers of singing cicadas and flickering fireflies. No bees to pollinate apple, cherry, peach, or almond trees. No one to make honey. A world without insects means a world with empty grocery-store shelves. But that would be just the beginning of our problems.

Now, it's impossible to say exactly what would go down, but here's a worst-case scenario of what could happen if all the insects disappeared. There are a few insects most people would be happy to see vanish. Like mosquitoes. They kill hundreds of thousands of people every year by transmitting malaria, West Nile virus, and other diseases. But if they disappeared tomorrow, we might actually miss them.