The head has a pair of long, slender antennae, two large compound eyes and two protuberant ocelli. The labrum is broad, and the frons and the hinder part of the clypeus are fused and form a bulge in a manner unusual for cockroaches. The pronotum is large and covers the head and extends sideways to about the width of the body. There are setae on the dorsal surface of the pronotum and different species have different patterning, which may be impressed into the surface. The patterning may be surrounded by an aura which radiates out from the pattern, and at the side of the pronotum, uric acid may be stored in white or pale pink patches.