Parcoblatta

Abstract: Cockroaches were collected from hospitals, houses and poultry sheds in various parts of Isfahan (Iran) and identified to species. In total, seven species of cockroaches in seven genera were identified: Blatta lateralis, Polyphaga aegyptiaca, Arenivaga roseni and Parcoblatta spp. Three species Periplaneta americana, Blattella germanica and Supella longipalpa (Blattidae and Blattellidae) were more abundant than the others. In another study, forty cockroaches were collected from hospitals in two experiments and were studied for the presence of Salmonella spp. Salmonella (Black colonies on SS agar with urease negative) were isolated from about 70 percent of the cockroaches collected from hospitals. Some of the isolated Salmonella were resistant to antibacterial drugs in a susceptibility test. Isolation of Salmonella from cockroaches collected from hospitals suggests that cockroaches act as natural reservoirs of Salmonella. A second study was conducted to determine if individual B. germanica could transfer Salmonella from an infected food source and then infects uncontaminated colony members. The results showed that the inoculation of 10 6 CFU of Salmonella into cockroaches via their food could infect the uncontaminated cockroaches. These contaminated cockroaches transfer infection to other colony members. Salmonella is stable in cockroaches for more than 10 months. Iran.

Abstract: Species within the cockroach genus Parcoblatta are sexually dimorphic for wing length; females have reduced wings and are flightless, while males have long wings that are used in flight. We predicted that Parcoblatta females would release a volatile sex pheromone to attract the more mobile males. Nymphs of the broad wood cockroach, P. lata, and the Caudell's wood cockroach, P. caudelli, were collected in forested areas in North Carolina, USA, and reared in the laboratory for observations of sexual behavior and for pheromone analysis. After several days of sexual maturation, virgin females of both species exhibited distinct calling behaviors. In females of P. lata, calling commenced 6 days after adult emergence. Under a light–dark photoperiod regime, calling behavior in both species was restricted to the scotophase. Calling consisted of a repeated pattern of raising and lowering the abdomen with occasional exposure of the genital vestibulum. To test whether calling behavior is associated with the release of pheromone, volatiles from calling and noncalling females were collected on Super-Q and tested by electroantennogram (EAG) and behavioral assays. Volatile collections from calling females elicited higher male-specific EAG responses than collections from noncalling females of the same physiological stage. In an olfactometer choice test (Y-tube), males preferred volatiles from calling females over those from noncalling females. To determine the anatomical source of the pheromone, solvent extracts of various body parts were analyzed by EAG. The first through seventh tergites were the only body parts that elicited male-specific EAG responses in both species. In P. lata, the activity of the extract increased from 1- to 7-day-old females, but was lower in mated than in virgin females of the same age. The putative pheromone gland appears to consist of numerous class-3 secretory units, each composed of a secretory cell connected to a cuticular pore via a tubular duct. We conclude that female P. lata and P. caudelli produce sex-specific volatile pheromones that are emitted during calling behavior.

Abstract: Wood cockroaches (Blattaria: Blattellidae) are important prey of the red-cockaded woodpecker, Picoides borealis Wilson (Piciformes: Picidae), an endangered species inhabiting pine (Pinus spp.) forests in the southern United States. These woodpeckers forage on the boles of live pine trees, but their prey consists of a high proportion of wood cockroaches, Parcoblatta spp., that are more commonly associated with dead plant material. Consequently, we sampled large woody debris, logs and standing dead trees (snags), in a South Carolina pine forest to determine densities of wood cockroaches in these habitats. Nearly 80% of the 662 wood cockroaches we collected from woody debris were found in snags. However, when we estimated the number of wood cockroaches per hectare, we found that the two habitats contained approximately equal numbers because logs are more abundant than snags. The broad wood cockroach, Parcoblatta lata Brunner, was the most common cockroach on live pine boles constituting 46% of the w...