The Biotic Associations of CockroachesRoth, Louis M. (Louis Marcus)
Science
The Biotic Associations of Cockroaches
Roth, Louis M. (Louis Marcus)
Cockroaches; Insects -- Ecology
_Tree frogs._--Tree frogs enclosed in a room overnight were said to
effectively clear it of cockroaches (Marlatt, 1915); on sugar
plantations in Australia, these amphibians were encouraged in houses and
kept as pets because they hunted and devoured large brown cockroaches
(Froggatt, 1906).
_Birds._--In Guadeloupe, Dutertre (1654) claimed that all the fowls of
the country were fond of small cockroaches and lived on practically
nothing else. In Hawaii (Zimmerman, 1948) and in the Lesser Antilles
(Ballou, 1912) cockroaches are eaten by poultry whenever the birds can
find them. In Puerto Rico, Wetmore (1916) stated that owls kept in
houses feed extensively on cockroaches; the stomach of one owl which had
been kept in a native house was filled entirely with cockroaches. In
British Guiana, Beebe (1925) found that cockroaches were eaten by 27
species of birds.
_Reptiles._--H. (1800) claimed that two lizards cleared his house of the
"true brown cockroach" and suggested that lizards be used for cockroach
control because the reptiles are docile and harmless. On Arno Atoll
geckos and night-feeding skinks eat large numbers of cockroaches
(Usinger and La Rivers, 1953). According to Wolcott (1924) the number of
cockroaches eaten by lizards is surprisingly large considering the
nocturnal habits of these insects. Beebe (1925a) kept geckos in a
bungalow to help control _Periplaneta_ and _Pycnoscelus_.
_Mammalia._--Cowan (1865) stated that in England hedgehogs were often
kept domesticated in kitchens to destroy cockroaches. This writer also
stated that a lemur was kept on board ship to destroy cockroaches.
Large numbers of the American and Australian cockroaches were eaten by
the mongoose in Hawaii (Perkins, 1913).
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We would have been unable to complete this review without the help of
many people who have generously given us their time and the benefit of
their special experience. We are exceedingly grateful to these
individuals for they have contributed much to whatever merit this work
possesses; we alone are responsible for the deficiencies and
inaccuracies that remain in the text.
Dr. A. B. Gurney, Entomology Research Division, U. S. Department of
Agriculture, and J. A. G. Rehn, Academy of Natural Sciences of
Philadelphia, have given us much help and advice throughout the
preparation of this monograph. Both have patiently answered our many
queries, and Mr. Rehn allowed us free access to his large collection of
cockroach literature. We are especially pleased to thank them for their
many favors.
Many persons have determined at our request the identity of specific
organisms. These individuals are cited in the text and to them we extend
our thanks. We thank our colleagues, cited in the text, who have made
their unpublished observations available to us. We also thank the
individuals and organizations for the use of photographs and/or drawings
for which they are credited in the accompanying legends.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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