The Biotic Associations of CockroachesRoth, Louis M. (Louis Marcus)
Science
The Biotic Associations of Cockroaches
Roth, Louis M. (Louis Marcus)
Cockroaches; Insects -- Ecology
_Natural hosts._--_Blatta orientalis_, Germany (Siebold, 1837, 1839;
Stein, 1848; Bütschli, 1881; Wolters, 1891; Marshall, 1892; Wellmer,
1910, 1911; Foerster, 1938; Schubotz, 1905); U.S.A. (Leidy, 1853a;
Crawley, 1903; Watson, 1917; Kudo, 1922; McAdow, 1931; Sprague, 1940,
1941); England (Lankester, 1863); France (Schneider, 1875; Cuénot, 1901;
Laveran and Franchini, 1920a); Brazil (Magalhães, 1900; Pinto, 1919);
U.S.S.R. (Zasukhin, 1929, 1930).
_Blattella germanica_, U.S.A. (Crawley, 1903); South Africa (Fantham,
1929; Porter, 1930: these appear to be the same record).
_Blattella germanica_ and/or _Periplaneta americana_, Egypt (DeCoursey
and Otto, 1956, 1957).
_Periplaneta americana_, Brazil (Magalhães, 1900); U.S.A. (Crawley,
1903; 1907; McAdow, 1931); South Africa (Fantham, 1929; Porter, 1930:
these appear to be the same record); Gold Coast Colony (Macfie, 1922).
_Parcoblatta pensylvanica_, U.S.A., Michigan (Ellis, 1913a).
Cockroaches, Germany (Schiffmann, 1919: probably used the oriental
cockroach); Venezuela (Tejera, 1926).
Organism usually found in the intestinal tract of cockroaches where it
is attached to the gut cells. Cysts are passed in the feces.
Occasionally, _G. blattarum_ (fig. 2, J) is found in the body cavity
(Leidy, 1853a; Hall, 1907). Though this is considered to be one of the
commonest of the Sporozoa encountered in cockroaches, DeCoursey and Otto
(1956) found only 10 of 217 _P. americana_ and _B. germanica_, collected
in restaurants in Egypt, infested with this species. Watson (1917) found
a dozen or more in one specimen of _Blatta orientalis_. Zasukhin (1929,
1930) found 2.6 percent of 3,000 oriental cockroaches infected with this
parasite.
=Gregarina fastidiosa= Harrison
_Natural host._--_Aptera fusca_, South Africa (Harrison, 1955): All
mature females were heavily infected; in all specimens there were over
100 parasites in the gut. All nymphs were infected, the earlier instars
more lightly than the later instars. Gregarines were found in all parts
of the gut except the crop and gizzard.
=Gregarina gibbsi= Harrison
_Natural host._--_Temnopteryx phalerata_, South Africa (Harrison, 1955):
Although the cockroaches were found in groups, only 32 percent were
infected and only 10 percent heavily. The gregarines were found in the
anterior mesenteron but none in the hepatic caeca. All cysts were found
in the hind gut or rectum.
=Gregarina illinensis= M. E. Watson
_Natural host._--_Parcoblatta pensylvanica_, U.S.A., Illinois (Watson,
1915, 1916): The intestine of one cockroach was found to contain 25 of
these gregarines.
=Gregarina impetuosa= Harrison
_Natural host._--_Melanosilpha capensis_, South Africa (Harrison, 1955):
All specimens of this gregarine were found in the anterior mesenteron of
the host.
=Gregarina légeri= Pinto
_Natural host._--_Periplaneta americana_, Brazil (Pinto, 1918, 1918a,
1919): Intestinal canal.
=Gregarina neo-brasiliensis= Al. Cunha
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account