The Biotic Associations of CockroachesRoth, Louis M. (Louis Marcus)
Science
The Biotic Associations of Cockroaches
Roth, Louis M. (Louis Marcus)
Cockroaches; Insects -- Ecology
The species of cockroaches listed below have been found in the following
kinds of outdoor microhabitats: In jungle, forest, and woodlands they
have been found in rotten wood; under bark of living, dead, and fallen
trees; in decay cavities in trees; burrowing in living bark; on foliage
of trees, shrubs, bushes, and low herbage; on vines and in bromeliads
and epiphytic ferns; under signs on trees and stumps; in piles of logs
and firewood; under dead leaves and debris; in and under decaying fruit
on the ground. Cockroaches have been found between the leaves and under
leaf sheaths of sugarcane, corn, and other grasses; under dry fibers and
fronds of coconut trees; in hollow stems and bases of tree-fern fronds;
under bracts of banana blossoms and in bunches of bananas (p. 146).
Cockroaches also inhabit abandoned cocoons and larval tents, wasp nests,
ant nests, termite nests, bird nests, rat nests, and burrows of other
rodents (pp. 23-25, 310-319). Cockroaches have been found in rock
crevices and under rocks; under boards and other objects on ground;
under seaweed, drift, and other debris on beaches; burrowing in soil and
under clods of earth; in marshes and swamps; in dumps and rubbish
heaps.
The above list does not exhaust the available outdoor microhabitats that
cockroaches find suitable for their continued existence, but it is
fairly representative. Although we have no measurements to substantiate
this conclusion, we suggest that the microhabitats cited above have a
more constant temperature and a relatively higher humidity than is
provided by the surrounding macrohabitats. We would expect insects such
as cockroaches, whose water balance is dependent on a continuous supply
of fluid water or moist food, to seek moist environments or to avoid
situations in which their transpiration might increase. Deviations,
presumably brief, from this expected behavior must occur to account for
the cockroaches that are found under relatively unfavorable
environmental conditions. Despite the apparent preference for cryptic
habitats, some cockroaches are found in hot sunlight (_Ellipsidion_
spp.; Tepper, 1893); Rehn (1945) has stated that many kinds are diurnal
rather than nocturnal. Movement of cockroaches between habitats may be
assumed to occur; but movement from an unfavorable environment to a more
favorable one, following a shift in water balance, has not been observed
in nature; however, laboratory experiments suggest that the mechanism
for mediating such behavior is present in some species of cockroaches
(Gunn and Cosway, 1938; Roth and Willis, 1952a). Obviously, additional
research is needed on the bionomics of all species. Further conclusions
based on current limited knowledge can only be speculative and possibly
misleading.
COCKROACHES FROM OUTDOOR HABITATS
(Except Amphibious, Desert, and Cavernicolous Forms)
=Aglaopteryx absimilis=
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