Question

Describe the abdomen of a female cockroach. Differentiate between male and female cockroaches.

Answer 1

Hint: A cockroach belongs to the class insecta of phylum Arthropoda.
They are brown or black bodied animals.
The size ranges from 0.6-7.6 cm.
The body of cockroach is segmented and divisible into three different regions:
1. Head
2. Thorax
3. Abdomen
The whole body of the cockroach is covered by the hard chitinous exoskeleton which is brown in colour.

Complete answer:
The abdomen in females is composed of 10 segments.
The 7th sternum is boat-shaped and an 8th and 9th sternum together forms a genital pouch.
Difference between Male and Female cockroach is:

Male cockroach	Female cockroach
1. Anal style is present	1. Anal style is absent
2. Body is relatively smaller than the female cockroach.	2. Body of a female is relatively longer than male cockroach.
3. The abdomen is slim and the last segment of the abdomen is pointed.	3. The abdomen is boat-shaped and the last segment is blunt.
4. The wings are larger and extend beyond the abdomen	4. The wings of female cockroaches are smaller.
5. Antennae are smaller than females.	5. Antennae are relatively larger than male.
6. In the 9th sternum of abdomen a pair of small, un-jointed anal styles and in the 10th tergum of abdomen a pair of long, palp-like jointed anal cerci are present.	6. Only a pair of anal cerci is present in of female cockroach.

Note: Trachea is the respiratory organ found in cockroaches.
The trachea is a dense arrangement of a network of air tubes found in the internal system.
When air enters into the body of the cockroach through spiracles into the tracheal tubes and it further diffuses into various tissues and cells of the body.