The Biotic Associations of CockroachesRoth, Louis M. (Louis Marcus)
Science
The Biotic Associations of Cockroaches
Roth, Louis M. (Louis Marcus)
Cockroaches; Insects -- Ecology
_Periplaneta australasiae_, U.S.A., Florida (Ashmead, 1900); Hawaii
(Swezey, 1929; Zimmerman, 1948). [Girault (1914) erroneously attributed
another record to Marlatt (1902); see footnote 6, above.]
_Experimental host._--_Blatta orientalis_, U.S.A. (Haber, 1920).
Relatively little detailed information was known about this wasp (fig.
5), one of the earliest parasites of cockroach eggs to be discovered,
until Cameron (1957) studied its biology. Arnold (Kirby and Spence,
1826) discovered that the genus _Evania_ parasitized _Blatta_, but did
not know whether the wasp developed on the cockroach eggs or in the
nymphs. MacLeay (Westwood, 1843) determined that _Evania_ developed
within the oöthecae of cockroaches. Westwood (1854a) found the larvae,
pupae, and adults of _E. appendigaster_ in egg cases of an unidentified
species of cockroach found on orchids received from Calcutta.
_Adult behavior._--Adult wasps visited flowers of parsley, _Petroselium
crispum_, and fennel, _Foeniculum vulgare_ (Margretti _in_ Schletterer,
1886; Crosskey, 1951). In Hawaii the adult wasps have been seen resting
on leaves coated with honey dew (Williams et al., 1931); _Evania_ sp.
were attracted to the honey dew secreted by a diaspine scale insect
(Williams, 1931). Adults lived two to three weeks in captivity with
ample food and water (Cameron, 1957).
_Oviposition._--Shelford (1912, 1916) erroneously supposed that
_Evania_, by means of her cleaverlike abdomen, opened the oötheca at the
crista and then deposited her egg or eggs on the eggs of the cockroach.
Haber (1920) observed and described oviposition. The female wasp
crawled over the surface of the oötheca, actively vibrating her
antennae, and settled with the axis of her body parallel to the axis of
the egg case as it lay upon its right side. Lying on her right side, the
wasp extended her ovipositor and punctured the oötheca in the fifth cell
on the left side; she remained in this position for about 15 minutes.
Cameron (1957) described similar oviposition behavior that lasted about
half an hour. Kieffer (1912) and Crosskey (1951) stated that the female
deposits her eggs before the walls of the oötheca harden.
[Illustration: FIG. 5.--_Evania appendigaster._ Left, dorsal view, × 8.
Right, side view, × 5. (Reproduced with permission. British Museum
[Natural History], 1951, figs. 1A and 1B.)]
_Development._--Kieffer (1912) stated that the larvae in this family eat
the cockroach eggs and pupate in the oötheca without forming a cocoon.
Smith (1945) stated that the larva feeds on one cockroach egg after
another until all are destroyed; by that time it is full grown and it
pupates within the oötheca. Cameron (1957) found that there are five
larval instars and that in material from Saudi Arabia there are three or
possibly four generations a year.
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