Tropical and subtropical Central and South America.
Fine-art photographic collection
Blaptica dubia
A cockroach that incubates an egg case internally and gives birth to live nymphs.
About this species
Argentinian Wood Cockroach
Blaptica dubia(Serville, 1838)
Information reviewed15 July 2026
Blaptica dubia differs sharply from cockroaches that abandon external egg cases. The female retracts the ootheca into a brood chamber, where the embryos develop until living nymphs emerge.
Taxonomy
Animalia · Arthropoda · Insecta · Blattodea · Blaberidae · Blaptica
Accepted species or infraspecific taxon in the current GBIF/Catalogue of Life treatment; unsupported details have been omitted rather than inferred. · checked 2026-07-15
Central and South AmericaBroad documented range and selected occurrence localities — not a complete occurrence map.
Warm tropical and subtropical habitats with leaf litter, bark and sheltered crevices.
Mainly nocturnal.
Omnivorous scavenger feeding on decaying plant matter and other organic material.
Gregarious but without eusocial castes.
What makes this species remarkable?
The female carries the ootheca inside her body for roughly seven to nine weeks and then gives birth to a brood of live nymphs.
Males have full wings while females retain only short wing pads, producing extreme adult sexual dimorphism.
Even winged males cannot sustain powered flight; experiments show they mainly use the wings to right themselves and control a descent.