#periplaneta

[snototter]

An American cockroach (Periplaneta americana) nymph in Pattaya, Thailand

by Len Worthington

[cytgen]

Abstract To obtain information of Periplaneta americana, we analyzed the distribution characteristics of microsatellite sequences in the P. americana transcriptome (229 MB) by using MSDBv2.4. The total number of perfect microsatellite sequences was 38 082 and covered about 0.3% of P. americana transcriptome. The cumulative length of microsatellites was 618 138 bp, and the density of microsatellites was 2978.54 bp/Mb. In the different repeat types of the microsatellites, the number of the mononucleotide repeats was 20 002 (accounting for 52.52%), which obviously was the most abundant type. While the trinucleotide, tetranucleotide, dinucleotide, pentanucleotide and hexanucleotide repeats accounted for 24.51, 12.97, 8.13, 1.61 and 0.26%, respectively. The kind of different repeat copy categories in each repeat type was also quite different, such as the A in mononucleotide repeat type, the AG in dinucleotide, the AAT in trinucleotide, AAAT in tetranucleotide, the AAGAA in pentanucleotide, and the CAGTAG in hexanucleotide were the most of each category. The A, T, AC, AG, AT, GT, AAG, AAT, ATC, ATG, ATT, CTT, AAAG and AAAT were the dominant repeat copy categories, the total number of all these types was 29 933, accounting for 78.6% in the total number of microsatellite sequences. These results based on a foundation for developing high polymorphic microsatellites to research the functional genomics, population genetic structure and genetic diversity of P. americana.

[futurebird]

The Fallen Titan

On one of my recent nature walks I came across the deceased body of an adult Periplaneta americana. They are remarkably large. Compared to all the other insects in the city only the praying mantises beat them. (and the mantises never leave lush gardens, so they rule the streets... did you know the roach & praying mantis are close cousins?)

I thought "that is your real crime you are too large & successful, too swift and athletic you can climb, leap, fly, survive... and we hate you for that."

No ants had come to collect this dead body, so I shuddered thinking of the poison that probably laced it. But the roaches in NYC can make it to adulthood and reproduce before our best death potions kill them.

We really need a different plan. I'm still not a fan, or very sympathetic, but boy oh boy do we kill a lot of more interesting and helpful creatures in a failed bid to slay the roach.

He was dead but I know he'll have a thousand children.

Can't even be ant food. Great job everyone!

[donein30minutes]

Bugust Challenge Day 4 (Fan Character Friday): The Director and Assistant 8.4.23

Done in 30 minutes

[oca-rinn-a]

had a full on falling-apart of my brain at 4am, trying to muster the will and plan how to contain a roach (American),

so naturally as soon as i wake up i read the creature's full wikipedia page.

[squishtar]

Scurry

In the orange-tinted dark I scurry over the ground near the gray forest. Thousands of scents on my antenna and all of them could be food. A great mass shifts in the distance. A high pitched scream sounds. Then the forest lifts up next to me. I scurry faster, faster, faster, until suddenly the forest comes down sideways, and I can scurry no longer.

[crevicedwelling]

cockroaches have always been a group I hold in high esteem among the insects, and I saw a lot of nice ones in Singapore & Malaysia this past summer.

first is the tiny Pseudophyllodromia laticeps, whose name means ‘broad-headed’ but really most of its head are huge eyes! unlike the rest of these cockroaches, which are nocturnal, these flit around in daylight like houseflies and are just as quick to take flight when approached.

I’m not fully sure what these next two are, perhaps blatellids.

Allacta is another pseudophyllodromiid and a very charming one, with delicate white markings on a shiny black background.

epilamprines are a lovely group of blaberid cockroaches that are diverse in the area; these three were Rhabdoblatta of three different species. the last one there was probably the prettiest roach I saw on the trip; sadly it was found dead on the path.

Pseudophorapsis nebulosa is a big epilamprine that tucks away its appendages and resembles a dead leaf during the day.

I’m not sure what these next two were, possibly more blaberids?

a male Pycnoscelus indicus was a nice sight—while very common, I’m only used to seeing female Pycnoscelus surinamensis, which descends directly from that species! several lineages of P. indicus independently developed the ability to clone themselves instead of mating; these female-only strains are together known as P. surinamensis.

the roach on the right is Ergaula pilosa, a cute burrowing cockroach (Corydiidae).

these two nonnative species need no introduction: Periplaneta australasiae and Periplaneta americana (Blattidae), two species that are big “pest” roaches worldwide. these two were just chilling in the forest, however.

blattids are a funny group since one bunch are all “pest roach-y” (the blattines above) but the rest are strictly outdoor species ranging from wildly colorful Australian forms to bumpy, ornate archiblattines like this Catara rugosicollis. I missed getting photos of another lovely species, Protagonista pertristis, which sprayed my hands with an eye-wateringly-powerful scent of oranges before making her escape into the leaf litter.

[addicted2wasps]

Weird Wasp....Tuesday?

I was getting kind of down in the dumps about not having any ideas for comics for a while, but I just had to find an excuse to draw an Evaniid today. The other two came into the picture afterward. Sometimes, it can be quite a challenge to come up with an idea or scenario that incorporates some kind of joke or pun related to certain insects, especially wasps.

I'm glad this one worked out. I suppose it would have made more sense to draw an ootheca in the picture, although I am curious about wether the ootheca "appears" externally after mating? I've seen photos of female Periplaneta americana without oothecae, either that, or I'm blind, lol. I welcome any advice or corrections!

The original accompanied caption:

When cockroaches are on the menu... Ampulex compressa and Evania appendigaster are both cockroach parasitoids. A. compressa is known for "zombifying" cockroaches, by stinging them in the brain and then dragging them into the wasp's burrow by the antennae. An egg is then laid on the host. E. appendigaster, aka Ensign wasps, parasitizes roach oothecae by laying eggs into the cockroach egg cases. They also distinctively have vivid blue eyes.

This will be an interesting match! Who will win!? 🤔 😆

(Also, if rock-paper-scissors doesn't require hyphens, I can easily remove them).

[vintagewildlife]

Anus of an Australian cockroach (Periplaneta australasiae) By: Tom Eisner From: Natural History Magazine 1985

[herpsandbirds]

Hi so I have a question about cockroaches but before we get to it, can I ask that pictures aren't included or, if they must be, they are under a cut? I really don't want to look at one 😭

Anyway, I live in Athens, Greece and I wanted to ask if we have multiple species of roaches here? Because my entire life I've been told that these things fly but I've only ever seen one fly once. And, yeah, we get them quite often (mostly the cat's fault) so I've seen quite a few of them. So, is there a species that just doesn't fly, or are they just so dazed with all the pesticides that fail to kill them that they just have no idea what they're doing anymore?

Cockroaches in Greece:

So, apparently, there are at least 20 species of cockroach in Greece, many of which are introduced from elsewhere, with the most common being...

Black Oriental Cockroach (Blatta orientalis)

American Cockroach (Periplaneta americana)

German Cockroach (Blattella germanica)

Brown-banded Cockroach (Supella longipalpa)

Most of these species fly, but the nymphs (juveniles) do not have wings, and the female Oriental Cockroach has small folded up non-functional wings that you would not notice.

[prosakleinerstunden]

Die Lesung von “Dörte überwinden” auf dem wundervollen Klangtherapie-Festival war ein unvergessliches Erlebnis für mich.

Nie hätte ich gedacht, dass die schönste Art, um in das Berlin von Dörte zu versinken, der Halbschlaf unter Korallen ist.

Vielen Dank an alle, die das Festival möglich gemacht haben, und an alle, die sich die Zeit genommen haben, um gemeinsam zu träumen.

[antiqueanimals]

Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia: vol. 2 - Insects. Written by Dr. Bernhard Grzimek. 1984.

Internet Archive

1.) House cricket (Acheta domesticus)

2.) German cockroach (Blattella germanica)

3.) Oriental cockroach (Blatta orientalis)

4.) American cockroach (Periplaneta americana)

[ronimiez]

timely insect post of the day

blue-eyed ensign wasp

(evania appendigaster)

this parasitic wasp is found in most climate zones on earth, and while its original native range isnt known, the speculated area of origin seems to be asia!

the wasp reproduces by laying its eggs into the oothecae of cockroaches, with its host species including the american cockroach (periplaneta americana), the australian cockroach (p. australasiae) and the brown cockroach (p. brunnea). the complete life cycle of this species can be observed in this video right here.

credits to pic. 1: Muhammad Mahdi Karim

credits to pic. 2: David Crummey

[aberrantceramics]

There's a Periplaneta americana in my coffee mug and that's the way I like it.

[misterradio]

the humble periplaneta americana

[practically-an-x-man]

I won't lie. I got distracted watching a video of a guy who's tent was being torn apart by leaf cutter ants and began researching the logistics of that.

BUT I'M BACK with an ask ONCE AGAIN. And it's bugged themed. For definitely unrelated reasons.

Your characters gain the ability to control one species of bug (specific species, not all of ants or all of wasps), and they have as much time as they need to research what bug they'd like. What qualifies as a bug in this case is subjective. Anything in class insecta is fair game but arachnida is cool too.

First of all, that documentary sounds fascinating and I can totally appreciate going down a research rabbithole like that :D

Second, I love this ask, let's dive right in!!

Rae: Copidosoma floridanum - a type of cosmopolitan wasp. The main reason she'd choose it is for it being cosmopolitan, she can utilize this power regardless of her travels.

Robin: Reticulitermes flavipes - the eastern subterranean termite. She'd pretty much exclusively use this power to keep them away from the operahouse and its wooden sets (same with her parents' house, since it's pretty old)

Madison: Pachydiplax longipennis - the blue dasher dragonfly. Technically any dragonfly would suffice, but blue dashers are common where she lives so she wouldn't have trouble finding them. Either way - semiaquatic, predatory, and edible in a pinch.

Ophelia: Camponotus pennsylvanicus - the black carpenter ant. Am I stealing this from Ant-Man? Maybe. But she'd find a way to use them in her lab, for sure.

Gia: Apis mellifera - the Western honey bee. Having an infinite supply of pollinators is a surefire way to keep her shop, and her clover, as healthy as possible.

Jasper: Melolontha vulgaris - the May beetle. Oil from their larvae is sometimes used as a topical treatment for scratches, abrasions, and rheumatism in traditional medicine - it's not quite Neosporin, but it'll work in a pinch

Kestrel: Eristalis tenax - the common drone fly. Another cosmopolitan species, good for use on their travels, but small and unassuming enough that could be good for some quiet espionage.

Katherine: Anthrenus scrophulariae - the common carpet beetle. They're one of the four common species of beetles that cause damage to textiles and other artifacts in museums, so that's a 25% lower chance that they'll get damaged on her watch

Quinn: Pepsis grossa - a North American tarantula hawk moth. Its sting is said to be incredibly painful and is among the highest ranked on the Schmidt pain index - she'd go with the bullet ant, but she's a lot less likely to find those in the California desert.

Eris: Paraponera clavata - there's the bullet ant. Eris just wants to cause as much pain as possible, when they need to. What kind of bug could double as a weapon to be used in battle? Bullet ant.

Nikoletta: Periplaneta americana - the American cockroach. It's gross, and she honestly hates roaches (and half of this power would just be used keeping them away from her home), but they're so common in big cities like New Orleans that she's always got a few around to control. It's a similar strategy to Cleo and her rats, really.

Jimmy: Drosophilia melanogaster - fruit flies. Look, here's his logic: they were first used in genetics back in 1910, and they were a big deal, and he works with scientists now too... maybe they'd have use for this power of his? (also credit to the one scientific name I did not have to look up beforehand because I had it memorized lol)

Vivienne: Aedes aegypti - the yellow fever mosquito. Disease is... kind of a big deal in her time, there aren't a lot of cures for these horrific ailments, and while Vivienne itself is largely immune by being a siren, she doesn't want Wojchek or his crew stricken ill by some tiny little bug.

Spider: Sigh... I'd been so careful about strictly insects this whole time, but it would be wrong to give him anything but a spider. Hogna carolinensis - the wolf spider, and the largest wolf spider species to be found in America. He just thinks it would be cool to freak people out by having this massive wolf spider crawl out of his mouth or something. He's... an odd one, that for sure.