Blattella asahinai (Dictyoptera: Blattellidae): A New Predator of Lepidopteran Eggs in South Texas Soybean
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چکیده
Large numbers of a cockroach that resembled the German cockroach, Blattella germanica (L.), were observed duringwinter 2005Ð2006 in home turf settings inWeslaco, TX, 11 km from theU.S. borderwith northeasternMexico. In June and July 2006, this cockroachwas observed at night on the foliage of soybean,Glycine max (L.)Merr., in numbers often exceeding 50 per m row. Because of its similarity to B. germanica, but with the characteristic of ßying frequently, we suspected that our observations might be of the Asian cockroach, Blattella asahinai Mizukubo. Using a combination of morphological characters, cuticular hydrocarbons, and sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase II gene, we deÞnitively identiÞed this cockroach as B. asahinai. B. asahinai was frequently observed feeding on sentinel eggs ofHelicoverpa zea (Boddie) and Spodoptera exigua (Hübner). This cockroach was the dominant egg predator in soybean during 2006, making up 36.4% of all predators observed feeding on eggs. B. asahinai was only observed occupying the soybean canopy nocturnally, and it made up 53.7% of predators observed feeding at night. We speculate that B. asahinaimay serve as an important beneÞcial insect in soybean and other crops.
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