Flat-horned Hissing Cockroach

🔤 Taxonomy

Aeluropoda insignis Butler, 1882 is the accepted name. It is the only described species currently placed in Aeluropoda and belongs to the Madagascan hissing-cockroach tribe Gromphadorhini. “Flat-horned hisser” and “flat hisser” refer to its low, shield-like body and the male’s shallow pronotal horns; they should not be confused with colour forms of Gromphadorhina.

📌 Description

Adults are wingless, strongly flattened, and usually 4.5-5.2 cm long. The body ranges from dark brown to chestnut, sometimes with red abdominal tones. Both sexes hiss by forcing air through modified abdominal spiracles. Males have more obvious pronotal lobes and thicker, hairier antennae; females are usually broader through the abdomen.

The species can climb clean glass and squeeze beneath close-fitting furniture. It is calmer than many fast, winged cockroaches, but the combination of strength, climbing ability, and easily overlooked newborn nymphs makes enclosure construction more important than handling.

🌍 Distribution

This cockroach is endemic to Madagascar. Fine-scale locality data are sparse, so the map deliberately shows only the country rather than implying a known island-wide distribution. Its flattened form is suited to tight retreats such as bark and decaying-wood crevices in seasonally humid forest microhabitats.

Range map

⚖️ Legal status

Checked on 2026-08-22: no listing for A. insignis was found in the current CITES Appendices or EU wildlife-trade Annexes A-D. The Bern Convention is not applicable to this Madagascan species. These findings do not override national rules on live-invertebrate import, plant-pest biosecurity, sale, or transport.

Buy a traceable captive-bred culture, retain the invoice and breeder’s line information, and confirm import requirements before crossing a border. Never release cockroaches or unwanted oothecal material outdoors.

🤌 Husbandry

A ventilated 30 × 30 × 30 cm enclosure suits a small mixed colony; use more floor area and retreats as numbers increase. Fit fine metal or insect mesh over ventilation, use a gasketed lid with positive latches, and keep a 5-8 cm smooth barrier zone below the rim. Petroleum jelly alone is not dependable on dusty surfaces.

Parameter	Practical target
Adult size	4.5-5.2 cm
Day air	22-28 °C; small warm end 28-30 °C
Night	20-24 °C
Relative humidity	55-75%, with one moist retreat
Substrate	5-8 cm leaf-rich soil/coir and rotten hardwood
Feeding	dry staple available; fresh food 2-3 times weekly

Quarantine new stock for 60-90 days in a simple sealed container with dedicated tools. Check for mites, malformed molts, unexplained deaths, and mixed-species contaminants before joining colonies. Count adults and inspect lid seams during every service.

💡 Lighting

UVB is unnecessary. A diffuse 10-12-hour light cycle supports normal activity and plants if used. Provide deep shade beneath bark; bright or hot lamps keep the colony hidden and may dry small nymphs. Keep all electrical fittings outside the enclosure.

🌡 Heating and temperature

Maintain most of the enclosure at 22-28 °C with a cooler refuge around 20-23 °C. A limited warm side of 28-30 °C can improve growth, but the whole container must never sit at that temperature. Laboratory work has successfully reared the species at 26 ± 1 °C.

Heat one side externally with a thermostatted mat or cable and monitor the air at substrate level. Do not heat under the entire substrate: cockroaches normally retreat downward when conditions become too hot or dry.

💧 Humidity and water

Keep roughly one-third of the substrate lightly moist and allow the upper surface elsewhere to dry. This gradient is safer than maintaining a uniformly wet box. Aim for 55-75% relative humidity, rising locally around 70-80% for molting animals, while preserving cross-ventilation.

Offer water crystals made for invertebrates or a very shallow, textured dish filled with pebbles. Replace fresh foods before they ferment. Condensation, sour substrate, phorid flies, and dense surface mites indicate excessive moisture or food accumulation.

🌿 Enclosure and decoration

Use pesticide-free deciduous leaf litter, rotten hardwood, and a soil/coir base 5-8 cm deep. Stand cork slabs with narrow gaps between them: the flattened adults select tight vertical or sloping crevices, while nymphs also shelter in litter. Secure heavy bark so it cannot crush molting insects.

Avoid aromatic cedar or pine, fertilized potting soil, insecticidal wood, and decorative gaps that cannot be inspected. A few separate feeding stations reduce crowding around food. Expand or split the colony when hides remain packed during the active period.

🪳 Feeding

This is an omnivorous detritivore rather than a fruit-only species. Keep a dry staple such as quality roach diet, cereal-and-legume mix, or moderate-protein fish food available. Two or three times weekly add a small portion of squash, carrot, leafy greens, apple, or banana; rotate foods rather than relying on sweet fruit.

Provide decayed hardwood and leaf litter continuously. Remove fresh leftovers within 24-48 hours. Excess dog or cat food can produce obesity, foul frass, and mite blooms, while chronic protein shortage may encourage nibbling of weak or freshly molted animals.

🥚 Breeding

The female carries the ootheca internally and gives birth to live nymphs. This is described as ovoviviparity in cockroach literature and represented as “viviparous” in the site’s structured metadata. A healthy colony needs both sexes, steady warmth, hiding space, and food rather than a separate incubator.

Keep more than one female per mature male and add bark partitions so subordinate males can avoid contact. Research comparing male contests found less butting and flipping than in Gromphadorhina oblongonota, but males still hiss and establish access to space. Record birth dates and do not separate newborns unless adults are crowding them.

🩺 Common problems

Failed molts: often follow dry retreats, poor grip, crowding, or disturbance. Correct the gradient and add stable textured surfaces.
Abortions or stalled breeding: commonly accompany chilling, overheating, repeated handling, or an unbalanced diet.
Mites and flies: remove wet food and fouled substrate, improve airflow, and move the colony to clean housing if pests multiply.
Allergy: cockroach frass and shed skins can sensitize keepers. Ventilate the work area, wear gloves and a suitable mask during deep cleaning, and wash hands.
Escapes: service the enclosure inside a smooth-sided catch tub and inspect mesh, cable ports, and lid corners before reopening the room.

📌 Conclusion

Aeluropoda insignis suits a keeper who wants a visible, vocal Madagascan display roach and is willing to build for glass-climbing newborns. Prepare the moist-to-dry substrate gradient and tight bark retreats before purchase; the most common preventable failure is treating a ventilated forest detritivore as either a dry feeder colony or a permanently wet terrarium.