Effect of rearing diets on bait preferences of the German cockroach (Dictyoptera: Blattellidae) and the smoky-brown cockroach (Dictyoptera: Blattidae)

摘要

Blattella germanica and Periplaneta fuliginosa were reared with three types of diets (canned beef, fresh cabbage and onions [vegetables], and rat chow) for given days. When several baits were provided to the cockroaches at the same time, the consumption of kelp bait was largest in the two species of cockroach adults in all rearing conditions. Moreover, the bait-preference patterns of R fuliginosa adults did not change even when the after eclosion period and diet conditions in the nymphal period werechanged. In contrast, bait preferences of the two species of cockroach nymphs remarkably changed according to a difference in diet conditions. Generally, consumption of kelp bait was largest in canned beef rearing, and that of silkworm pupa bait was largest in vegetable and rat chow rearing. Moreover, early-instar nymphs of P. fuliginosa had a greater preference for silkworm pupa bait compared with late-instar nymphs. These results indicate that bait preferences are different between adults and nymphs.The change in bait preferences is large in the nymphs, and bait preferences of P. fuliginosa nymphs change during the nymphal period.