Thesis (M.S.P.H.)--University of South Florida, 2009. / Title from PDF of title page. Document formatted into pages; contains 47 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

Dendrites of cockroach tibial spine mechanoreceptors contain hundreds of free microtubules, which may have some relation to the generation of electrical activity. Deflection of a spine produces a train of action potentials. Continuous perfusion over a period of 4 hours results in no response decrement. Perfusion with 10mM colchicine reversibly inhibits the response within 5-7 minutes. Irreversible inhibition is produced by perfusion with 1mM vinblastine sulfate in perfusion solution containing 1% dimethyl sulfoxide. Deuterium oxide does not inhibit at concentrations less than 50%, nor does it counteract inhibition by 10mM colchicine. Colchicine may be affecting (1) intracellular microtubules, (2) membraneous tubulin, (3) other membrane components, or (4) axoplasmic transport of essential materials to the sensory dendrites.

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1. The inheritance mechanism or resistance to lindane in the German cockroach, Blattella germanica (L.) was studied by determining the toxicity of lindane to the following populations ot cockroaches: a) lindane.resistant and non-resistant strains, b) the F1 and F2 progeny of reciprocal crosses between the two parental strains, c) the F1 and F2 progeny of backcrosses between the reciprocal cross F1 males. and resistant and non-resistant strain females, d) the progeny of pair matings within resistant and non-resistant strains and e) eight successive generation of a resistant strain isolated from further insecticide selection. 2. The method. employed in rearing the cockroaches and obtaining toxicological data on the different populations, as well as the genetical and statistical procedures, are described. 3. The toxicological data tor the mass matings are presented 1n the form of regression lines fitted by appropriate statistical analyses. 4. The toxicological data. for the pair matings, transformed into "indices of resistance," are presented in tabular form. 5.. Appropriate conclusions are drawn from the data to explain the inheritance mechanism of lindane resistance in the German cockroach. / Ph. D.

Dosage mortality data by a topical application method for eight organophosphorus compounds are given for two laboratory-selected .strains of Blattella p:ermanica ( L.), one resistant to malathion and the other resistant to diazinon. Comparison of this data with similar data for a normal susceptible strain of the same species reveals that development of resistance to malathion in this species is highly specific imparting no effective cross resistance to any of the other seven compounds evaluated. Selection with diazinon induces a low level of tolerance to all the organophosphates studied, but there are indications that in most cases this is due to vigor tolerance rather than to true resistance. There is reason to believe that if carboxyesterase activity is responsible for the resistance phenomena to malathion exhibited by this insect, its action is blocked or its detoxifying ability rendered ineffective by the presence of a vinyl group in an organophosphorus compound, such as GC 3707. / Master of Science

The oriental cockroach, Blatta orientalis L., was found to be an important seasonal household pest. Of 151 residents interviewed in two Roanoke apartment complexes in Virginia, 90% had seen oriental cockroaches, 60% considered one oriental cockroach indoors to be a problem, and 77% had taken steps to control these cockroaches. Monitoring oriental cockroach populations indicated when and where treatment would be necessary to reduce cockroach infestations. The adult cockroach population peaked in late June and July, and declined through August and September while the number of nymphs increased. Eighty percent of all cockroaches trapped at Roanoke apartment buildings were caught at porches, the primary cockroach harborage sites. In a mark-recapture study at four apartment buildings, 50% of the resighted oriental cockroaches remained at one porch, 36% moved along one side of a building, 13% moved between the front and back of a building, and 2% moved between two buildings. Only 1-5% of the oriental cockroaches marked outdoors were ever captured indoors. One exterior perimeter and crawlspace application of encapsulated chlorpyrifos or diazinon in early June was the most effective insecticide treatment, reducing oriental cockroach populations by at least 85% for two months. Oriental cockroaches populations were reduced 78% and 50% two months after application of Dursban 4E (chlorpyrifos) and Combat bait trays (hydramethylnon), respectively. Structurally modifying buildings, to limit cockroach access to harborage in porch and wall voids, did not significantly (P < 0.05) reduce oriental cockroach populations, even one year after treatment. Structural modification was labor intensive, requiring at least eight times more man-hours per building compared to insecticide applications. The evaniid wasp Prosevania punctata (Brullé) had been seen in apartments by 60% of the Roanoke residents interviewed. This wasp parasitizes and destroys the oothecae of oriental cockroaches. P. punctata exhibited a maximum parasitization rate of 51% for oothecae of oriental cockroaches in laboratory conditions. Three peaks of evaniid wasp field populations closely followed the rise, peak, and decline of adult oriental cockroach populations. A resident education program significantly (P < 0.05) reduced the percentage of residents in Roanoke apartment complexes who thought evaniid wasps were a problem or killed them. However, evaniid wasps parasitized only 15% of the field collected oriental cockroach oothecae, significantly fewer (P < 0.05) than the 36% parasitized by the eulophid wasp Tetrastich us hagenowii. In addition, 60% of the residents still killed evaniid wasps, despite the education program. / Ph. D.

This work discusses the pollination system of Clusia blattophila on the Nouragues inselberg in the central part of French Guiana. The pollination system is unique, because one of the pollinators is probably a cockroach species, Amazonina platystylata. It is the third, and the last known case of cockroach pollination. Flowers are also visited by crickets (Gryllidae), flies (Diptera) belonging to the families Hybotidae, Cecidomyiidae, Dolichopodidae, and some other arthropods. This work deals with the effectiveness of the pollination system and its two components. The quantitative component of the pollination effectiveness is characterized by the number of visits and visit duration. A qualitative characteristic of pollination is characterized by the number of pollen transferred by individual pollinator. To determine quantitative characteristics, ca. 450 hours of recordings were taken. From the recordings, it is apparent that cockroaches and dipterans occur on flowers more frequently, and also that cockroaches and crickets spends on flowers more time. To determine the quantitative characteristics, pollen load on stigma and insect was determined and an exclusion experiment was performed when only some floral visitors were allowed to touch the flowers. All experiments confirm that cockroach Amazonina...

Genome size or nuclear DNA content is a a trait which varies greatly among living organisms, with no apparent relashionship between genome size and organismal complexity. It is usually described using the C-value as either a number of base pairs or picograms of DNA. Unresolved questions regarding mechanisms influencing genome size and relationships between genome size and other organismal traits are together known as the C-value enigma. Genome size is known to positively correlate with cell size and negatively with developmental and cell division rate. A maximum constraint of 2 pg has also been proposed for haploid genome sizes of holometabolous insects. Despite the fact that there are about one million described insect species, genome sizes are only known in a fraction of them. This thesis thus aims to extend the dataset of known insect genome sizes by as many species of cockroaches (Blattodea) as possible. Another aim is to compare results with known phylogeny and also to compare difference in genome size between sexes. Flow cytometry was used for genome size estimations, which is a rapid, simple and effective method, also suitable for study of ploidy levels and other cellular charasteristics.

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Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:48:53Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:00:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 09622.pdf: 5768165 bytes, checksum: e2892f39925cad85d839fbede925fbad (MD5) / Tese (Doutoramento) / IPEN/T / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN/CNEN-SP