Adult males and females are slightly more than one inch long. Body is shiny blackish brown.
The male’s wings cover two—thirds of the abdomen, female wings are short. Neither gender is capable of flying. Nymphs are reddish brown.
Egg case is blackish brown; it contains 16 to 18 eggs; hatching occurs in about 42 days. Egg cases do not survive when exposed to freezing. Females produce egg cases at intervals of one to two weeks; the lifetime total is six to eight. Nymph development takes 515 days for males and 542 days for females. Adults and large nymphs are active from May to early July when adults and nymphs move indoors. Adults die in July or August of the second year.
Habits. Adult females and nymphs have tarsi with only a small pad between the claws; they have difficulty climbing smooth surfaces.