About 4000 to 7500 species of the cockroaches are present all over the world and 70 species are identified in U.S. House hold cockroaches are suitable carrier of different disease carrying agents like fungi, protozoa, viruses and nearly 40 species of bacteria that are the pathogens of different vertebrates and intermediate hosts for the some important helminth. Cockroaches are the best adopter of the planet and it is considered as most successful group of insects in the world. Cockroaches are born inebriates and omnivorous scavengers. Our homes and buildings provide the cockroaches food and protect them from the harsh environmental conditions and they provide the water as well as convenient place for the cockroaches. Cockroaches has high reproduction capacity and one pair of cockroaches produces as much as off springs in only one year to carpet the floor of an average house to about 1 m depth. ! In August, 1997, the Journal of Economic Entomology noted: “Even with the promotion of integrated pest management programs for the German cockroach, Blattela germanic (L.) The pest control industry has generally relied on the use of chemically-based synthetic insecticides as the key, direct control technique in these integrated pest management (IPM) programs (Gold 1995). The financial backbone of the pest control industry for years has been the “need” for continual chemical cockroach “control.” Mick Kulikowski conducted a research to test the effect of touch on reproduction capacity of the female cockroaches. He found that touches female with duck feather reproduced very rapidly than the untouched female. Dr. Coby Schal, Blanton J. Whitmire Professor of Entomology at NC State found that reproduction speed of the cockroaches depends upon the shape of the artificial antenna doing the ‘touching’ and the speed and duration of the stimulation were key factors that influenced reproduction speed.”
Roaches are thigmotropic insects meaning they like to feel the touch with something solid in contact with the body. They preferred to touch the hard thing from all sides of the body. Cockroaches preferred to find the spaces and cracks and crevices where they squeeze their bodies and feel comfort. The small German cockroach can fit into a crack as thin as a dime, while the larger American cockroach will squeeze into a space no thicker than a quarter. Even a pregnant female can manage a crevice as thin as two stacked nickels.
About Authors
Shahmshad Ahmed Khan, Dr. Muhammad Anjum Aqueel, and Humairah Hanif
