JIM CLARE / Common cockroaches in bat cave {Blatta orientalis} Trinidad

TIM MARTIN / Giant cockroach {Blaberus giganteus} Costa Rica Guanacaste

Kim Taylor / American Cockroach (Periplaneta americana) recently moulted.

Kim Taylor / American Cockroach (Periplaneta americana) female, captive

Kim Taylor / Oriental Cockroaches (Blatta blatta) feed on sandwich

Kim Taylor / Giant forest cockroach (unidentified) Trinidad, captive

Kim Taylor / Tawny Cockroach (Ectobius pallidus) female carrying egg pod, UK.

Kim Taylor / Giant Cockroach (unidentified), cut-out, Trinida

Mark Taylor / Cockroach (unidentified) Borneo. Captive

Mark Moffett / Giant Madagascar Hissing Cockroach (Gromphadorhina portentosa) on ground among leaf litter, Berenty Reserve, Madagascar

John Cancalosi / Cockroach fossil Cretaceous period Brazil

Nick Garbutt / Giant hissing cockroach {Elliptorhina javanica} Berenty PR, Madagascar

Pete Oxford / Scorpion eating cockroach, Amazon, Ecuador, South-America.

John Cancalosi / Fossil insect - cockroach from Cretaceous period. Brazil

Andrew Parkinson / Sea cockroaches retreating from advancing tide {Ligia dilatata} Cape of Good Hope, South Africa

Piotr Naskrecki / Ball Cockroach (Perisphaerus sp), Muller Range, Papua New Guinea

Christian Ziegler / Left to right, from top: Blue Helicopter Damselfly (Megaloprepus coerulatus), Mydas Fly (Mydidae), Saw-nosed Planthopper (Cathedra serrata), Metalmark (Lymnas pixe), Grasshopper (Proscopia panamensis)...

Piotr Naskrecki / Cape Mountain Cockroach (Aptera fusca) female abdomen, South Africa

Piotr Naskrecki / Ball Cockroach (Perisphaerus sp) rolled up in defensive posture, Papua New Guinea. Sequence 1 of 4

Piotr Naskrecki / Ball Cockroach (Perisphaerus sp) nymph, Papua New Guinea

Piotr Naskrecki / Ball Cockroach (Perisphaerus sp) rolled up in defensive posture, Cambodia

Murray Cooper / Cockroach wing detail

Premaphotos / Broad wood cockroach (Parcoblatta lata) female carrying her egg mass (ootheca), South Carolina, USA

Premaphotos / Cockroach (Aptera fusca) hissing and standing on its head in a threat to squirt a defensive liquid, South Africa

Premaphotos / Lesser cockroach (Ectobius panzeri) female feeding on Sea mayweed flower, UK

Premaphotos / Cockroach (Homalopteryx laminata) female amongst leaf litter on the forest floor, Trinidad

Premaphotos / Cockroach (Paratropes lycoides), which from a distance resembles a fallen seed pod but close-up has warning coloration somewhat like a distasteful lycid beetle, in rainforest, Peru

Premaphotos / Giant cockroach (Blaberus giganteus) last instar nymph in a room with a bat roost, Trinidad

Premaphotos / Giant cockroach (Blaberus giganteus) amongst bat droppings in a cave full of roosting bats in rainforest, Trinidad

Premaphotos / Cockroach (Gyna sp) a mimic of dead leaves, in forest, Kenya

Premaphotos / Cockroach (Methana marginalis) female carrying her egg-case (ootheca) in rainforest, Queensland

Premaphotos / Cockroach (Ellipsidion sp.) in Eucalyptus forest, Queensland, Australia

Premaphotos / Hissing cockroach (Elliptorhina javanica) at night in tropical dry forest, Madagascar

Premaphotos / Australian cockroach (Periplaneta australasiae) feeding on a cake at night in a house, Costa Rica

Piotr Naskrecki / Cockroach (Gyna sp) living under loosened bark of Elephant-damaged Baobab, Botswana

Adrian Davies / Common cockroach on bread {Blatta orientalis} UK

Rod Williams / American cockroach {Periplaneta americana cosmopolitan}

Pete Oxford / Hissing cockroach {Gromphadorhina sp.} Madagascar

Dan Burton / Madagascar hissing cockroaches {Gromphadorhina portentosa} captive