The Biotic Associations of CockroachesRoth, Louis M. (Louis Marcus)
Science
The Biotic Associations of Cockroaches
Roth, Louis M. (Louis Marcus)
Cockroaches; Insects -- Ecology
_Natural host._--_Leucophaea maderae_?, Jamaica (Westwood, 1839; Sells,
1842). [This host is undoubtedly an error. Sells stated that the oötheca
which contained 96 unidentified chalcids had 16 dentations at the edge;
the description fits the oötheca of an oviparous cockroach and not that
of _L. maderae_ (see Roth and Willis, 1954). Westwood (1839, footnote p.
423) stated that at the meeting of the Entomological Society in 1838 Mr.
Sells exhibited 94 specimens of a small _Pteromalus_ (apparently
identified by Westwood) obtained from one cockroach oötheca. This same
record of Sells was published posthumously in 1842, although in this
paper he identified the host oötheca as "_Blaberus_" _maderae_. Cameron
(1955) lists a European record of _Pteromalus_ sp. from _Periplaneta
americana_ citing Girault (1914) as the source of the record. Girault's
record was apparently taken from Westwood's footnote mentioned above.]
=Systellogaster ovivora= Gahan
_Natural hosts._--_Blatta orientalis_, U.S.A., Illinois (Gahan, 1917).
_Parcoblatta pensylvanica_, Canada, Ontario (Judd, 1955).
_Parcoblatta_ sp., U.S.A., Ohio (Edmunds, 1952a, 1953a).
"Blattid," U.S.A., Maryland (Gahan, 1917).
One oötheca of _P. pensylvanica_ yielded 14 parasites with a sex ratio
of 2.5 [F][F]: 1[M] (Judd, 1955). The average number of parasites in 11
oöthecae of _Parcoblatta_ sp. collected in 1950-51 was 27 wasps
(Edmunds, 1952a, 1953a). The adults made two to three emergence holes in
the oötheca (Edmunds, 1953a; Judd, 1955).
Family EULOPHIDAE
=Melittobia chalybii= Ashmead
_Natural host._--_Periplaneta americana_, U.S.A., Missouri (Rau, 1940a):
_M. chalybii_ is normally a parasite of Coleoptera and Hymenoptera
(Peck, 1951). This is the only record from cockroach eggs. Burks
(personal communication, 1956) stated that this species will attack any
insect to which it is exposed and can be a serious pest in insect
cultures of practically any insect order. In nature it seems to prefer
the nests of aculeate Hymenoptera; Rau suggested that the parasites were
probably brought into his laboratory with mud nests of _Sceliphron
caementarium_ (Drury).
=Mestocharomyia oophaga= Dodd
_Natural host._--_Ellipsidion australe_, Australia, Queensland (Dodd,
1917).
=Syntomosphyrum blattae= Burks
_Natural hosts._--_Parcoblatta_ sp., U.S.A., Ohio (Burks, 1952; Edmunds,
1952a, 1953a): Ten oöthecae yielded an average of 92 wasps (Edmunds,
1952a). Five oöthecae, collected a year later, yielded an average of 74
wasps; adults sometimes made two to three exit holes in the oötheca
(Edmunds, 1953a).
Cockroach, U.S.A., West Virginia (Burks, 1952).
=Syntomosphyrum ischnopterae= (Girault)
_Synonymy._--_Epomphaloides ischnopterae_ Girault [Peck, 1951].
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