The sand cockroach is a unique oval-shaped species living near the desert and sand hills. They are harmless to humans and never breed inside your house.
Here, I will share some interesting facts about beach or desert bolls and sand cockroaches with pictures. You will identify them from the other cockroach species after completing this guide.
Quick overview of sand cockroach: sand roach is a wingless oval insect that loves to stay on the beach or desert. They are nocturnal and hide in the deep hole of the soil that is made by themselves.
So, if you want to know the facts about sand roaches and differentiate them from other cockroaches, let’s continue this article.
What is a sand cockroach?
A sand cockroach is an insect that lives in sand dunes for most of the year. They love to burrow deep within the soil during winter.
You will commonly find these sand roaches in the desert and sand hills throughout the world. They are considered pure nocturnal roaches.
Externally, the male and female sand roaches look a little different. The female sand roach remains inside the burrows for most of the day time. This is because; these female sand roaches try to avoid the sunlight.
What is the main feed that is intake by the sand roaches? Well, a sand roach like to take the roots of desert roots. These desert roots also serve as the main water source for the sand roaches.
You will clearly find 3 segments (head, thorax, and abdomen) in the sand cockroach. There are several transverse grooves on the dorsal aspect of the sand roach.
Sand cockroach facts – identification
First, let’s identify the sand roach with the help of its external appearance. The basic structure of the sand roach is similar to other roaches or an ideal insect.
But, you will find little exceptional anatomical features in the sand roaches. If you want to know the external structure of a cockroach or baby roach, let’s see the below-mentioned article –
Let’s see the unique body features of a female and male sand roach in the next section of this article.
Male and female sand cockroaches
The female sand roach is larger than these of the male roaches. You will find the average length of the female sand roach 15 – 25 millimeters (depending on their age).
The shape of the female sand roach is oval and elongated. Typically, you will find the black body color in a female sand roach. But, the color may vary in females depending on the environment.
The female sand roaches do not possess any wings (wingless). They (female sand roaches) resemble trilobites.
Again, the male sand roaches possess a dusty-brown color on their body. You will also find wings in the male sand roaches.
The male sand roach sometimes looks like a German cockroach. But, you may easily differentiate the male sand roach from the German cockroaches with the help of their appearance of legs and others.
The legs of the male sand roaches are typically shorter compared to these of the German roaches. You will find numerous small hairs on the legs of both male and female sand roaches.
Both the male and female sand roaches possess 3 distinct transverse grooves that extend from head to thorax segments. Again, there are numerous distinct transverse grooves on the abdominal segment of the sand roaches.
These grooves (on the abdomen) are unique and distinct in sand roaches compared to other cockroaches like Oriental or German. The soft exoskeleton of the sand roaches has not appeared as a translucent structure like German cockroaches.
The anterior antennae of both male and female sand roaches are short and segmented. But, in common roaches like German, American, and Oriental cockroaches, you will find segmented longer antennae.
The whole body of a sand roach possesses short fairy brown or black hairs.
Summary of Male and female sand Cockroaches
Here, Table 1 will provide the summary of male and female roaches (based on their external appearance) –
| Features | Male sand roach | Female sand cockroach |
| Look like | German cockroach | Trilobites |
| Body shape | Oval shape | Oval elongated |
| Body color | Dusty-brown | Black |
| Wings | Two sets of wings | Wingless |
| Flight | Little | Incapable |
| Hairs on body | Numerous | Less |
I hope you will differentiate the male sand roach from the female roaches with the help of provided information in a table.
Desert, beach, and bolls (arenivaga) sand cockroaches
The common sand roaches love to stay in the desert sand; thus, this roach is also called desert sand. You may find a good number of desert roaches in the southern part of the United States of America.
The beach cockroaches look like cockroaches and are commonly termed the sea roach or sea slaters. They (beach roaches) are not externally similar to these sand roaches.
But, the bolls cockroach is one kind of sand roach. The external appearances of a bolls roach are almost similar to the sand roach.
Bolls cockroach external facts –
- Length of the bolls cockroach – 19 – 25 millimeters,
- Segments of the bolls roach – 3 distinct segments (head, thorax, and abdomen),
- Marks or transverse groove on thorax and head – 3 grooves,
- Grooves on the abdomen – numerous but less developed than sand roaches,
- Legs of bolls roach – more strong and possess larger hair,
- Color of the bolls roach – typically black,
- Hairs on the bolls roach’s body – less than the sand roach,
Other facts and feed habits are also similar to the typical sand roaches. Here, table 2 shows the scientific name of 3 sand cockroaches –
| Sand Cockroaches | Scientific Name |
| Desert Sand Roach | Arenivaga floridensis Arenivaga investigate |
| Beach Sand Roach | Ligia oceanica |
| Bolls Sand Roach | Arenivaga bolliana |
Do sand roaches fly?
Yes, male sand roaches can fly a little as they have membranous wings. They have little ability to fly like the German cockroaches.
But, the ability of the sand roaches to fly may depend on various facts. You may get a general concept of the cockroaches flying from the below-mentioned article on insect pets –
This article will also provide a basic concept – how do cockroaches fly?
But, the female sand roaches can’t fly anymore as they have no wings.
Can sand roaches make holes?
Yes, the sand roaches can make holes within the soil or sand they live. Their normal habit is making holes, but all the cockroach species do not typically make holes.
The cockroach that lives outdoors and has strong legs can make holes in the soil. You will find several cockroaches with the strongest legs, like wooden cockroaches, Sand roaches, and Giant burrowing cockroaches.
Here, the sand cockroach possesses 3 pairs of short legs but has a high power to burrow the soil. You may know the structure of the cockroach’s leg from the below-mentioned article on insect pets –
You will find the details segments and structure of a cockroach leg in the article as mentioned above.
Do cockroaches like sand?
Typically, common cockroaches (German, Oriental, American, Brown-banded) do not like sand. But few outdoor cockroaches like the sand.
The cockroaches under the Arenivaga genus (under the family of Corydiiae) love the sand. The normal habitat of these arenivaga cockroaches is under the sand or sand hills.
Let’s see some of the common sand loving cockroaches –
- #1. Arenivaga investigate
- #2. Arenivaga floridensis
- #3. Arenivaga apache
- #4. Arenivaga bolliana, and
- #5. Arenivaga Tonkawa
You will also find other various sand loving cockroaches in the world.
How to tell if there is a sand roach infestation?
You may easily identify the infestation of the sand roaches from the sand. If there are small ridges left in the desert or sand, which indicates the presence of sand roaches.
One or two sand roaches can’t make infestation in the sand. When numerous sand roaches come and produce odorous secretions and make numerous small ridges on the sand, then infestation may occur.
What is the dirtiest insect roach?
Cockroaches and flies are the dirtiest insects in the world. Among the cockroaches, Oriental and sand cockroaches are the dirtiest insect roaches.
The oriental cockroach causes more harm to people as they destroy human food. Their odorous secretion may spoil human food.
It is believed that the dirtiest cockroach (oriental) doesn’t cause any direct disease. But, their legs and body carry various diseases producing agents.
Again, sand cockroaches are the dirtiest species, but they rarely enter human dwellings. This species of cockroach do not cause any harm to people. Again, they will not produce offspring within the human residence.
How do you get rid of sand roaches?
You know the sand cockroach rarely occurs in the house. So, you may avoid taking care of these sand roaches control.
But, if the sand roach infestation occurs in your house, you might take care of it. However, these roaches can be very difficult to eradicate.
Proper management and several integrated strategies are required to deal with sand cockroach control. An ideal cockroach control measurement (manual and agent) should be eradicated the sand cockroaches from the house.
Manual control is the best to prevent the entry of the sand cockroach to the house. Thus, it would help if you cared about the cracks and crevices of doors, windows, and pipes in your house.
Let’s find the details guide to cockroach control from insect pets here.
Conclusion
I hope you got the basic idea of the sand cockroach facts with images. The key external features help you identify the various sand roach types.
Again, these features also help you differentiate the sand cockroach from other cockroaches. The oval body, short, stronger legs, and presence of small hairs on the body are the main characteristic features of a sand roach.
