The Biotic Associations of CockroachesRoth, Louis M. (Louis Marcus)
Science
The Biotic Associations of Cockroaches
Roth, Louis M. (Louis Marcus)
Cockroaches; Insects -- Ecology
Seín (_in_ Rehn and Hebard, 1927) in Puerto Rico found _Aglaopteryx
facies_ in abandoned cocoons of _Megalopyge krugii_ (Dewitz) and in
leaves webbed together by caterpillars and in abandoned spiders nests.
Wolcott (1950; and _in_ Rehn and Hebard, 1927) also found _A. facies_ in
the empty cocoons of _M. krugii_ and in the larval tents of _Tetralopha
scabridella_ Ragonot on _Inga vera_ (coffee shade tree); and "Where
there are no butterfly-nests, it lives in abandoned spider-nests on the
leaves of other forest trees." Cotton (_in_ Wolcott, 1950) found the
type of _Aglaopteryx absimilis_ also living in the abandoned cocoon of
_M. krugii_ on bucare trees in Puerto Rico. Wolcott (1950) reported that
_Plectoptera dorsalis_, _Plectoptera infulata_, and _Plectoptera
rhabdota_ have been found living in trees between leaves or in
"butterfly-nests" of _Tetralopha scabridella_ in leaves of _Inga vera_,
or nests of _Pilocrocis secernalis_ (Möschler) in the leaves of _Petitia
domingensis_ in the mountains of Puerto Rico. Seín (_in_ Rehn and
Hebard, 1927) had collected _P. rhabdota_ in the nest of larvae of _T.
scabridella_.
Wolcott (1950) reported that _Nyctibora lutzi_ had been found in a large
rotten stump associating with "'comején' termites [_Nasutitermes
costalis_ (Holmgren)], yellow wood-ants and rhinoceros beetle grubs."
Rehn and Hebard (1927) found _Simblerastes jamaicanus_ in numbers in the
debris of an abandoned termites' nest in Jamaica: "To what extent the
species is dependent upon the protection of the termite or other
structures remains to be determined."
In Virginia _Cryptocercus punctulatus_ has been found living in the same
galleries with _Reticulitermes_ sp., and on the Pacific Coast it has
been found occupying the same log with _Termopsis_ sp. (Cleveland et
al., 1934).
Shelford (1909) found one male and one female of _Balta platysoma_ in a
nest of a spider of the genus _Phryganoporus_ and assumed a symbiotic
association. Chopard (1924) recorded _Mareta acutiventris_ from empty
nests of spiders on Barkuda Island, India; nothing is known of the
relationships, if any, between these cockroaches and spiders.
Chopard (1924c) found _Margattea_ sp. in the nest of the ant _Acropyga
acutiventris_ Roger; he also found _Margattea_ sp., _Periplaneta_ sp.,
_Polyphaga indica_, and _Temnopteryx obliquetruncata_ in deserted
termite mounds in India. However, he believed that none of these species
were more than accidental associates of the host insects; he considered
them hygrophilous cockroaches which had found a retreat in the nests.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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