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Madagascar Hissing Cockroach

Common Name: Madagascar Hissing Cockroach

Scientific Name: Gromphadorrhina portentosa

Order: Blattodea

Range: This species lives off the eastern coast of southern Africa on the island of Madagascar.

Diet: Feeds on decaying leaves, soft fruit, etc.

Reader Rail Information: Madagascar originated by splitting off of the continent of Gondwanaland (of which Africa was a large part) more than 120 million years ago. This separated the animals from all other contact with Africa. A common result of island biogeography (the study of the distribution of living things) is that many of the species that fly secondarily lose that ability. This species is a good example of that phenomenon. Hissing Cockroaches get their name from the ability to forcibly eject air out of the large thoracic spiracles (openings to the respiratory system) with audible results. A predator scratching through leaf litter hearing this hissing noise would be startled long enough for the roach to escape.

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