There are some insects in the Middle East which every traveler should know about. These are very common both within and outside residential areas. You should be able to identify these insects easily as they are easily spotted with the naked eye in good light. These insects are liable to cause damage to articles like books and food articles if allowed to flourish unchecked. Here is a list of some of the most common insects in the Middle East:

1. The American cockroach hides in dark areas during the day and emerges at night. This nocturnal insect usually spits out a brown colored liquid on to materials like books and paper. It is almost forty millimeters in length and is usually reddish brown in color. The insect mostly prefers to stay inside houses in moist, warm conditions.

2. The Australian cockroach is very similar to its American counterpart but tends to be smaller in size. It has distinctive light or yellow colored markings on its thorax and on the tips of its wings. This insect also prefers to spend most of its time inside houses.

3. The oriental cockroach, commonly referred to as the water bug is large in size. It tends to be dark brown or black in color. The water bug has an affinity for damp areas like drains in the house and it tends to be more populous on the lower floors of buildings. The three species mentioned above are the commonest insects in the Middle east.

4. Another common species of insects in the Middle East are Silverfish. These insects tend to nestle between the pages of books and  on  coated paper. Their distinctive work is usually in the form of paper that is ragged and thinned out on the edges, Silverfish are ubiquitous and tend to infest and populate dry areas very fast. As the name suggests, they are silver in color and have small, flat bodies.

5.There are many species of beetles which are commonly found insects in the Middle East. The bacon beetle is one of these. The insect measures around 7 to 9 millimeters and has a dark brown body. The beetle has a pale rear with black spots.

6. The cigarette beetle is a small, light-brown flying beetle that commonly infests areas like the kitchen. It has an affinity for larders stocking food and spices. The beetle’s larvae are one variety of bookworms. This variety of beetle is also common in gardens.

7. The larvae of the drugstore beetle are also referred to as bookworms. This beetle is found in moist storage areas, and the larvae have the ability to tunnel to great depths foraging for food. Most beetle larvae leave a pile of dust in their burrows which is a sure signal of their infestation.

8. By far the most damaging of all insects in the Middle East are termites. These are especially abundant in tropical regions. There are three main types of termites: drywood, dampwood, and subterranean.