This morning when I walked into the kitchen I noticed a small,
2-cm long (from head to end of body) cockroach nymph. Quickly, I
found a container to keep it in. As I watched in fascination, the
brown head of the nymph almost fell off, and another white head
with two eyes emerged from the gaping hole where its original head
had been.
Then, a long tear ran along the length of its dark serrated body,
and as the insect continued to squirm, more of the white
translucent form was revealed. During this time, the two extremely
long antennae on its head were neatly tucked beneath its
body.
Over the next few minutes, the insect shed its brown exoskeleton
and finally the soft, new body was fully revealed. Bubbles formed
and burst beneath the translucent surface of its lower body, and
strange shapes moved under its exoskeleton. Once in a while the
nymph would twitch as a large bubble formed around a black,
throbbing thing in its body and moved towards its head where it
would burst.
In less than an hour since it had shed its skin, the nymph, which
had been extremely white, had now become a dark brown, and the top
of its small head was covered by a layer of carapace from its upper
body, like a shield.
