Cockroaches escape from terrestrial predators by making an evasive turn and running away (Camhi, 1984). The air displacement produced by the predator’s strike is sensed by wind-sensitive receptors on the cerci, two posterior antenna-like organs. These receptors excite two distinct populations of giant interneurons, the ventral giant interneurons (vGIs) and the dorsal giant interneurons (dGIs), ...

BACKGROUND Studies in patients with allergic rhinitis living in the Free State have showed grass pollens to be the predominant allergens, with house-dust mite sensitisation being less prevalent than in the coastal areas and a low rate of sensitisation to the storage mite Lepidoglyphus destructor. No studies have been conducted on sensitisation to the other storage mites, spider mites or cockroa...

The repellency of ultrasound to females of two species of mosquitoes, Anopheles quadrimaculatus Say and Anopheles gambiae Giles (Diptera: Culicidae), and male and female German cockroaches, Blattella germanica (L.) (Blattodea: Blattellidae), was evaluated under laboratory conditions using a random ultrasonic device developed at Kansas State University. This device produces ultrasound in the 20–...

BACKGROUND Flies and cockroaches are two insects in close contact with human beings. They are carriers of human pathogenic bacteria on the external areas of their bodies or in their digestive tracts. This study examines Periplaneta americana and Musca domestica collected from the residential areas of six districts in Tangier, Morocco. METHODOLOGY In total, 251 bacteria were isolated from exte...

Sperm competition theory predicts that animals face a trade-off between investment in weaponry and investment in ejaculate composition. Within the Madagascan giant hissing cockroaches (Tribe Gromphadorhini) differences in morphology exist that may indicate differing strategies of male-male competition. We compared relative pronotal horn length using high-resolution X-ray CT scanning data, relat...

The toxicity of five commercial bait formulations (Raid Max, Combat, Maxforce, Avert PT310, and Magnetic Roach Food) against various stages and sexes of JWax-susceptible and Muncie-resistant strains of German cockroaches, Blatella germanica (L.), was investigated in choice and no-choice bioassays. The role of strain, bait, stage, sex, and feeding bioassay main effects on cockroach mortality was...

Thermosensation is critically important for survival of all animals. In the cockroach Periplaneta americana, thermoreceptor neurons on antennae and thermosensory interneurons in the antennal lobe have been characterized electrophysiologically, and recent studies using advanced transgenic technologies in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster have added much to the knowledge of these neurons, ena...