Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

Gromphadorhina por­ten­tosa, the Mada­gas­car hiss­ing cock­roach, oc­curs only on the the is­land of Mada­gas­car. (Guthrie and Tin­dall, 1968; Yoder and Gro­jean, 1997)

• Biogeographic Regions
• ethiopian
  • native

• Other Geographic Terms
• island endemic

Habi­tat

Gromphadorhina por­ten­tosa is pri­mar­ily found in the trop­i­cal low­land rain­forests of Mada­gas­car. They tend to live in the dry lit­ter on the for­est floor. (Copeland, 2003; Ryan, et al., 1993; Yoder and Gro­jean, 1997)

• Habitat Regions
• tropical
• terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• rainforest

• Range elevation

  0 to 1000 m

  0.00 to 3280.84 ft

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Like most in­sects, Gromphadorhina por­ten­tosa has a head, tho­rax, ab­domen, and 6 legs. Un­like many cock­roach species, they do not pos­sess wings. Their ex­oskele­ton is dark, from ma­hogany brown to black, and very thick, hard, and waxy. They have pads and hooks on their feet that allow them to climb smooth sur­faces. Males pos­sess a pair of large bumps or tu­ber­cles be­hind their head, these struc­tures are much smaller in fe­males. These horns are known as prona­tal humps. Gromphadorhina por­ten­tosa is one of the largest species of the cock­roaches in the world, adults are 5.1 to 10.2 cm long, with males grow­ing larger than fe­males. (Clark and Moore, 1995a; Copeland, 2003; Guthrie and Tin­dall, 1968; Mil­ius, 2002; Miller, 1977)

• Other Physical Features
• ectothermic
• heterothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• male larger
• sexes shaped differently

• Range length

  5.1 to 10.2 cm

  2.01 to 4.02 in

De­vel­op­ment

Mada­gas­car hiss­ing cock­roachs have an in­com­plete or par­tial meta­mor­pho­sis. They hatch from eggs as nymphs, which are quite sim­i­lar to adults in gen­eral struc­ture, but lack re­pro­duc­tive or­gans. Nymphs molt their ex­oskele­ton six times as they grow to adult­hood, a process that usu­ally takes 6-7 months. (Fraser and Nel­son, 1984; Guthrie and Tin­dall, 1968)

• Development - Life Cycle
• metamorphosis

Re­pro­duc­tion

Male Mada­gas­car hiss­ing cock­roaches pro­duces acoustic sounds or hiss­ing dur­ing courtship in­ter­ac­tions with fe­males. Males typ­i­cally pro­duce two types of sig­nals, a call­ing sound and a courtship sound. The call­ing sound is a long dis­tance song that is used to at­tract fe­males while the courtship sound is used more dur­ing close range in­ter­ac­tion.

Adult male hiss­ing cock­roaches de­fend mat­ing ter­ri­to­ries from other males, and at­tempt to mo­nop­o­lize mat­ing with all the fe­males in their ter­ri­tory. Males in­ter­act by hiss­ing, and in bouts of push­ing and shov­ing. Cock­roach mat­ing can occur year around, but only when the cli­mate is warm. (Clark and Moore, 1994; Guthrie and Tin­dall, 1968; Matthews and Matthews, 1978; Roeder, 1963; Sreng, 2005)

• Mating System
• polygynous
• polygynandrous (promiscuous)

Male hiss­ing cock­roaches are at­tracted and stim­u­lated by the odor of the fe­male. The males have spe­cial­ized sense or­gans on their an­ten­nae for this. The amount of sex at­trac­tant se­creted is higher in vir­gin fe­males, al­though the out­put can be spo­radic. It de­creases with age. When the male is at­tracted to the fe­male by this scent, he be­gins to hiss and touch her an­ten­nae. The pair then at­taches to one an­other and turn rear to rear and re­main in this po­si­tion for 30 min­utes. The fe­males carry the ootheca, a long yel­low­ish egg case, in­ter­nally and they re­lease the young nymphs after the eggs have hatched. Typ­i­cally 15 - 40 cock­roach nymphs will emerge. (Clark and Moore, 1994; Guthrie and Tin­dall, 1968; Matthews and Matthews, 1978; Roeder, 1963; Sreng, 2005)

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous
• seasonal breeding
• year-round breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• fertilization
  • internal
• ovoviviparous

• Breeding interval

  year-round

• Breeding season

  year-round

• Range eggs per season

  15 to 40

• Average gestation period

  2 months

• Range time to independence

  5 to 10 months

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  7 months

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  7 months

Fe­male Mada­gas­car hiss­ing cock­roaches pro­vi­sion their eggs, then carry them after fer­til­iza­tion until they hatch. (Clark and Moore, 1994; Guthrie and Tin­dall, 1968; Matthews and Matthews, 1978; Roeder, 1963)

• Parental Investment
• pre-fertilization
  • provisioning
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-hatching/birth
  • protecting
    • female

Lifes­pan/Longevity

Mada­gas­car hiss­ing cock­roaches can live up to five years. (Clark and Moore, 1995a)

• Range lifespan
  Status: wild

  5 (high) years

• Range lifespan
  Status: captivity

  5 (high) years

• Typical lifespan
  Status: wild

  2 to 5 years

• Typical lifespan
  Status: captivity

  2 to 5 years

Be­hav­ior

Male Mada­gas­car hiss­ing cock­roaches es­tab­lish ter­ri­to­ries that are de­fended from other adult males. Ag­gres­sive hiss­ing and pos­tur­ing be­hav­ior is used to warn in­trud­ers away. The male that is larger and hisses more usu­ally wins. The dom­i­nant males stand on their "toes," which is called stilt­ing. Stilt­ing is a way for males to "show off." The males use their prona­tal humps when fight­ing other males to de­fend ter­ri­to­ries. Fight­ing be­tween males does not ap­pear to in­jure the males. Fe­males and nymphs are more so­cial and do not fight with one an­other or with males. The cock­roaches are noc­tur­nal and they avoid light. (Fraser and Nel­son, 1984; Gor­don, 1996; Yoder and Gro­jean, 1997)

• Key Behaviors
• terricolous
• nocturnal
• motile
• sedentary
• territorial
• social

• Average territory size

  <1 m^2

Home Range

Ter­ri­tory sizes are rather small. A male may sit on a rock for months and de­fend it from other males, only leav­ing to oc­ca­sion­ally ob­tain food and water. Fe­males do not de­fend a ter­ri­tory like this. (Guthrie and Tin­dall, 1968; Mul­der, 2008)

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

The Mada­gas­car hiss­ing cock­roach is unique in its abil­ity to make a "hiss­ing" sound. These cock­roaches hiss through the breath­ing spir­a­cles lo­cated on their ab­domens. This hiss­ing sound is used to com­mu­ni­cate with its own species and oth­ers. Four hisses with dif­fer­ent so­cial pur­poses and am­pli­tude pat­terns have been iden­ti­fied: a male com­bat hiss, two types of court­ing and mat­ing hisses, and an alarm hiss (a loud snake-like hiss­ing that star­tles preda­tors). (Clark and Moore, 1995b; Clop­ton, 1995; Copeland, 2003; Fraser and Nel­son, 1984; Guthrie and Tin­dall, 1968; Matthews and Matthews, 1978; Miller, 1977; Nel­son and Fraser, 1980; Yoder and Gro­jean, 1997)

• Communication Channels
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

• Other Communication Modes
• pheromones

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

Food Habits

Mada­gas­car hiss­ing cock­roaches are de­tri­ti­vores. Their most fre­quent food is de­cay­ing plant ma­te­r­ial, in­clud­ing fallen fruit, be­cause it is so read­ily avail­able. They also eat smaller in­sects and an­i­mal car­casses. (Clark and Moore, 1994; Guthrie and Tin­dall, 1968)

• Primary Diet
• detritivore

• Animal Foods
• carrion
• insects

• Plant Foods
• leaves
• seeds, grains, and nuts
• fruit
• lichens

• Other Foods
• fungus
• detritus
• dung

Pre­da­tion

Hiss­ing cock­roaches prob­a­bly have many types of preda­tors, but there are few doc­u­mented re­la­tion­ships. Arach­nids, ants, ten­recs, and some ground-feed­ing birds are likely preda­tors. As pre­vi­ously men­tioned, an anti-preda­tory strat­egy is an alarm hiss - pro­duc­ing a loud snake-like noise that may star­tle po­ten­tial preda­tors. (Clark and Moore, 1994; Copeland, 2003; Guthrie and Tin­dall, 1968)

Ecosys­tem Roles

Gromphadorhina por­ten­tosa plays a role in the rain­forests of Mada­gas­car by re­cy­cling a large amount of de­cay­ing plant and an­i­mal mat­ter.

The mite An­dro­lae­laps schae­feri, for­merly Gromphadorho­lae­laps schae­feri, is a com­mon par­a­site of this cock­roach. These mites form small clumps of four to six in­di­vid­u­als at the base of the leg of their cock­roach host. While it was orig­i­nally thought that this mite was san­guiniv­o­rous (blood-suck­ing), re­cent stud­ies showed that the mite sim­ply "shares" in a cock­roach's food items. (Clark and Moore, 1994; Guthrie and Tin­dall, 1968; Yoder and Barcelona, 1995; Yoder and Gro­jean, 1997)

• Ecosystem Impact
• biodegradation

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

This species is part of the nu­tri­ent cy­cling process in Mala­gasy forests. These forests are im­por­tant as sources of tim­ber, for water qual­ity, and sources of other nat­ural prod­ucts.

Hiss­ing cock­roaches are also sold com­mer­cially in the pet trade. (Guthrie and Tin­dall, 1968)

• Positive Impacts
• pet trade

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

There are no known ad­verse ef­fects of Gromphado­rina por­ten­tosa on hu­mans.

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Be­cause the Mada­gas­car hiss­ing cock­roach is only found in Mada­gas­car, lit­tle con­ser­va­tion ef­forts have been done. This is due to po­lit­i­cal tur­moil. Since the Mala­gasy peo­ple were forced out by the French col­o­niz­ers in the 1960’s, the coun­try has gone from dic­ta­tor­ship to dic­ta­tor­ship. It is dif­fi­cult for field bi­ol­o­gists to re­search the area due to the sparse net­work of pass­able roads. In the re­cent years, Lib­er­a­tion and in­ter­na­tional aid have made it eas­ier for bi­ol­o­gists to study Mada­gas­car fo­cus­ing on the hiss­ing cock­roach. The Mada­gas­car hiss­ing cock­roaches hud­dle to­gether in the for­est. These pock­ets of nat­ural for­est are dying by degra­da­tion and frag­men­ta­tion and be­cause of this Mada­gas­car has be­come a top pri­or­ity for con­ser­va­tion bi­ol­o­gists. Hun­dreds of mil­lions of dol­lars have been con­tributed over the past three decades to help con­ser­va­tion ef­forts in Mada­gas­car. (Bo­han­non, 2003; Fraser and Nel­son, 1984)

• IUCN Red List

  Not Evaluated

• CITES

  No special status

Con­trib­u­tors

Ash­ley Jessee (au­thor), Rad­ford Uni­ver­sity, Karen Pow­ers (ed­i­tor, in­struc­tor), Rad­ford Uni­ver­sity.

Ref­er­ences

Bo­han­non, J. 2003. Mada­gas­car Tames the Bo­hemian of Bi­ol­ogy. Sci­ence, 301/5641: 1835-1837.

Clark, D., A. Moore. 1995. Ge­netic As­pects of Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Dur­ing Male Com­pe­ti­tion in the Mada­gas­car Hiss­ing Cock­roach: Hon­est Sig­nalling of Size. Hered­ity, 75: 198-205.

Clark, D., A. Moore. 1995. So­cial Com­mu­ni­ca­tion in the Mada­gas­car Hiss­ing Cock­roach: Fea­tures of Male Courtship Hisses and a Com­par­i­son of Courtship and Ag­o­nis­tic Hisses. Be­hav­ior, 132: 5-6.

Clark, D., A. Moore. 1994. So­cial In­ter­ac­tions and Ag­gres­sion Among Male Mada­gas­car Hiss­ing Cock­roaches (Gromphadorhina por­ten­tosa) in Groups (Dic­ty­optera: Blaberi­dae). Jour­nal of In­sect Be­hav­ior, 7/2: 199-215.

Clop­ton, R. 1995. Hiss­ing Cock­roach, Gromphadorhina por­ten­tosa. In­ver­te­brate Bi­ol­ogy, 114/4: 271-278.

Copeland, M. 2003. Cock­roach. Lon­don: Reak­tion Books.

Fraser, J., M. Nel­son. 1984. Com­mu­ni­ca­tion in the Courtship of the Mada­gas­can Hiss­ing Cock­roach: Nor­mal Courtship. An­i­mal Be­hav­ior, 32: 194-203.

Gor­don, D. 1996. The Com­plete Cock­roach. Berke­ley, Cal­i­for­nia, USA: Ten Speed Press.

Guthrie, D., A. Tin­dall. 1968. The Bi­ol­ogy of the Cock­roach. Lon­don: Ed­ward Arnold Pub­lish­ers Ltd..

Matthews, R., J. Matthews. 1978. In­sect Be­hav­ior. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Mil­ius, S. 2002. Meet­ing Danielle the Taran­tula. Sci­ence News, 161/6: 90-92.

Miller, J. 1977. So­ci­ety for the Sci­ence and the Pub­lic. Sci­ence News, 112/21: 344.

Mul­der, P. 2008. "L-278: Mada­gas­car Hiss­ing Cock­roaches: In­for­ma­tion and Care" (On-line). OSU Ag in the Class­room. Ac­cessed De­cem­ber 17, 2008 at http://​agweb.​okstate.​edu/​fourh/​aitc/​lessons/​extras/​cockroach.​pdf.

Nel­son, M., J. Fraser. 1980. Sound Pro­duc­tion in the Cock­roach, Gromphadorhina por­ten­tosa: Ev­i­dence for Com­mu­ni­ca­tion by Hiss­ing. Be­hav­ioral Ecol­ogy and So­cio­bi­ol­ogy, 6/4: 305-314.

Roeder, K. 1963. Nerve Cells and In­sect Be­hav­ior. Cam­bridge, Mass­a­chu­setts: Har­vard Uni­ver­sity Press.

Ryan, J., G. Creighton, L. Em­mons. 1993. Ac­tiv­ity Pat­terns of Two Species Ne­somys in a Mada­gas­car Rain For­est. Jour­nal of Trop­i­cal Ecol­ogy, 9: 101-107.

Sreng, L. 2005. Cock­roach Mat­ing Be­hav­iors, Sex Pheromones, and Ab­dom­i­nal Glands (Dic­ty­optera: Blaberi­dae). Jour­nal of In­sect Be­hav­ior, 6/6: 715-735.

Yoder, J., J. Barcelona. 1995. Food and water re­sources used by the Mada­gas­can hiss­ing-cock­roach mite, Gromphadorho­lae­laps schae­feri. Ex­per­i­men­tal and Ap­plied Ac­arol­ogy, 19/5: 259-273.

Yoder, J., N. Gro­jean. 1997. Group In­flu­ence on Water Con­ser­va­tion in the Giant Mada­gas­card Hiss­ing-Cock­roach, Gromph­dorhina por­ten­tosa (Dic­ty­optera: Blaberi­dae). Black­well Sci­ence, 22: 79-82.