Turkestan cockroach

{{Speciesbox

| name = Turkestan cockroach

| image = Blatta lateralis mating.jpg

| image_caption =

| image2 = Shelfordella lateralis nymphs in mud.jpg

| image2_caption = Mating (male light, female dark) above, nymphs below

| genus = Periplaneta

| species = lateralis

| authority = Walker, 1868

| synonyms_ref = [http://cockroach.archive.speciesfile.org/Common/basic/Taxa.aspx?TaxonNameID=1179022 Cockroach Species File: species Periplaneta lateralis Walker, 1868] (Version 5.0/5.0 retrieved 28 March 2024){{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Life|title=Synonyms of Turkestan Cockroach (Shelfordella lateralis)|url=http://eol.org/pages/1076305/names/synonyms|access-date=13 December 2013}}

| synonyms = Shelfordella lateralis (Walker, 1868)

Blatta (Shelfordella) lateralis (Walker, 1868)

Periplaneta tartara Saussure, 1874

Shelfordella tartara (Saussure, 1874)

Shelfordella ahngeri Adelung 1910

Shelfordella tartara v. zarudnyi Adelung, 1910

Paralobotoptera sillemi Hantisch, 1935

}}

The Turkestan cockroach, Periplaneta lateralis (also known by its synonyms Shelfordella lateralis and Blatta lateralis),{{ cite encyclopedia | title = Taxonomic Information for Turkestan Cockroach (Shelfordella lateralis) | encyclopedia = Encyclopedia of Life | url = http://eol.org/pages/1076305/names?all=1 | access-date = 5 January 2014 }} also known as the rusty red cockroach,{{cite journal | last1=Oonincx | first1=D.G.A.B. | last2=Dierenfeld | first2=E.S. | title=An Investigation Into the Chemical Composition of Alternative Invertebrate Prey | journal=Zoo Biology | volume=31 | issue=1 | year=2012 | pages=40–54 | issn=0733-3188 | doi=10.1002/zoo.20382 | pmid=21442652 | url=http://www.caudata.org/forum/attachments/f1173-advanced-newt-salamander-topics/f11-food-live-frozen-freeze-dried-pellets-etc/16960d1309468386-new-paper-about-nutritional-value-alternative-feeder-insects-investigation-into-chemical.pdf }} red runner cockroach or simply rusty red, red runner,{{cite web|title=BioLib – Shelfordella lateralis (Red Runner Cockroach)| work=BioLib | url=https://www.biolib.cz/en/taxonnames/id927128/|access-date=13 December 2013}} or lat, is a primarily outdoor-dwelling cockroach native to an area from northern Africa to Central Asia. Adults measure around {{convert|3|cm|in|abbr=on}} in length. Adult males are a brownish orange or red, are slender, and have long, yellowish wings which allow it to attract females and to glide.{{cite book|author1=Floyd G. Werner|author2=Carl E. Olson|title=Insects of the Southwest|url=https://archive.org/details/learningaboutliv0000wern|url-access=registration|access-date=13 December 2013|year=1994|publisher=Fisher Books|isbn=978-1-55561-060-9|pages=[https://archive.org/details/learningaboutliv0000wern/page/5 5]–6}} Adult females are dark brown to black, with cream-colored markings on the shield and a cream-colored stripe edging its wings; they are broader than males, and have short vestigial wings. Nymphs are brown in front, black on the rear, and are wingless.

Habitat

The Turkestan cockroach is primarily an outdoor insect, not known as an aggressive indoor pest, unlike some cockroach species such as the German and brown-banded cockroaches,{{cite book|author1=Xavier Bonnefoy|author2=Helge Kampen|author3=Kevin Sweeney|title=Public Health Significance of Urban Pests|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uruktyYMGpAC&pg=PT35|access-date=13 December 2013|year=2008|publisher=World Health Organization|isbn=978-92-890-7188-8|page=35}} though it will inhabit areas around dwellings where shelter can be found. However, in specific localities or tropical locations, it can become a significant indoor pest. Of occasional indoor interlopers, males are more commonly encountered than females, due to their ability to fly and an attraction to lights. In Arabia, it lives beneath stones in damp hollows, desert farms, and wadis, feeding primarily at night.{{cite book|author1=D. H. Walker|author2=A. R. Pittaway|title=Insects of eastern Arabia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LvhMAAAAYAAJ|access-date=13 December 2013|year=1987|publisher=Macmillan|page=26}}

Distribution

The species is found in central Asia, the Caucasus Mountains, and northeastern Africa. It can be found throughout the area of Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Egypt, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kashmir, Libya, Palestine, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates, Russia (adventive) and the United States (adventive) .{{cite web|title=Species Shelfordella lateralis (Walker, 1868): Blattodea Species File|work=Species File|url=http://blattodea.speciesfile.org/Common/basic/Taxa.aspx?TaxonNameID=1179022|access-date=13 December 2013 | quote=Asia (central); Caucasus Mountains; Azerbaijan; Afghanistan; Iran; Kashmir; Iraq; Africa (northeastern Africa); Canary Islands; Egypt; Palestine; Israel; United Arab Emirates; Saudi Arabia; Sudan; Libya; USA [adventive] }}{{ cite journal | journal=Miscellaneous Publications of the Entomological Society of America | issn=0071-0717 | year=1991 | issue=78 | title=Catalog and atlas of the cockroaches (Dictyoptera) of North America north of Mexico | first1=Thomas H | last1=Atkinson | first2=Philip G. | last2=Koehler | first3=Richard S. | last3=Patterson | publisher=Entomological Society of America | quote="Distribution. Egypt, Libya, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, India, southern USSR. United States: Arizona: Maricopa, Pima; California: San Joaquin; Texas: El Paso. }} https://www.researchgate.net/publication/383690405_Turkestanskij_tarakan_Periplaneta_lateralis_Walker_1868_-_novyj_cuzerodnyj_vid_na_territorii_Rossii

US introduction

The Turkestan cockroach was first noticed in the US in 1978, around the former Sharpe Army Depot in California, followed shortly after by appearances at Fort Bliss in Texas and several other military bases.{{cite news|title=Military, not the Internet, blamed for invasive cockroach|work=Los Angeles Times|date=9 December 2013|last1=Mohan|first1=Geoffrey|url=http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-invasive-cockroach-20131209,0,4247320.story|access-date=13 December 2013}} Researchers believe the species arrived on military equipment returning from central Asia, perhaps Afghanistan. Since then the species has been rapidly replacing the common oriental cockroach (Blatta orientalis) in urban areas of the southwestern US “as the most important peri-domestic species”, with advantages of laying more eggs and maturing more quickly than the oriental cockroach.{{cite journal|title=Life History and Biology of the Invasive Turkestan Cockroach (Dictyoptera: Blattidae)|last1=Kim|first1=Tina|last2=Rust|first2=Michael K.|journal=Journal of Economic Entomology|volume=106|issue=6|date=December 2013|pages=2428–2432|publisher=Entomological Society of America|doi=10.1603/ec13052|pmid=24498744|doi-access=free}} “They typically inhabit in-ground containers such as water meter, irrigation, and electrical boxes, raises of concrete, cracks and crevices, and hollow block walls.” They are well established in the Southwest and parts of the Southeast, and have been reported in the Northeast.{{cite news|title=Look out, Southwest, there's a new cockroach in town|work=LiveScience|last1=Main|first1=Douglas|url=http://www.livescience.com/41866-new-turkestan-roach.html|access-date=13 December 2013}} It has become established in California.{{cite web | website=UC Statewide IPM Program (UC-IPM) | url=https://www2.ipm.ucanr.edu/Invasive-and-Exotic-Pests/Turkestan-Cockroach/ | title=Turkestan Cockroach (Blatta lateralis)}}

Uses

=Pet food=

In the US, Turkestan cockroaches are sometimes kept to feed to pet reptiles and other insectivores, chosen partly because they can't climb smooth surfaces and don't burrow.{{cite encyclopedia|title=Turkestan Cockroach – Blatta lateralis – Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) – Overview – Encyclopedia of Life|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Life|url=http://eol.org/pages/1076305/hierarchy_entries/46355653/overview|access-date=13 December 2013}} Cockroaches have been replacing crickets, the most popular feeder insect for decades, due to the cricket's noise, odor, short lifespan, and expense.{{cite news|title=The Perfect Roach — Blatta lateralis (The Turkestan roach or red-runner)|last=Jacobi|first=Michael|work=Arachnoculture E-Zine|publisher=Michael Jacobi's Exotic Fauna|issue=5|url=http://exoticfauna.com/arachnoculture/5/AC-i5a6-p1.html|access-date=13 December 2013}} Turkestan cockroaches are a popular choice of species, and are readily available for sale over the Internet, which may hasten their spread to new habitats.

Although reliable information on specific dietary requirements of insectivores is scant, Turkestan cockroaches provide a high-protein, low fat nutrition composition similar to crickets, more so than mealworms or superworm larvae provide. The gut contents of the cockroach, depending on its diet, may provide essential nutrients unavailable from a cockroach with an empty gut.

In a study of commercially ordered specimens, small second instar nymphs ({{cvt|0.9|–|1.3|cm|in |disp=or}}) consisted of 21% dry matter, made of 76% crude protein and 14% crude fat, while medium third instar nymphs (1.3-1.9 cm) consisted of 28% dry matter, made of 53% crude protein and 27% crude fat. Mineral content is well represented except for a low calcium:phosphorus ratio typical in cockroaches, and calcium supplementation may be advisable. Vitamin A and E content was relatively low, and is generally significantly higher in free-ranging cockroaches. Insectivores which fed on unsupplemented invertebrates have been found to suffer from vitamin A deficiencies, and a study of panther chameleons (Furcifer pardalis) found vitamin A deficiency shortened life spans and reduced reproduction rates.{{cite journal |last1= Ferguson |first1=Gary W. |last2= Jones |first2=J. R. |last3= Gehrmann |first3=W. H. |last4= Hammack |first4=S. H. |last5=Talent |first5=L. G. |last6= Hudson |first6=R. D. |last7=Dierenfeld |first7=E. S. |last8= Fitzpatrick |first8=M. P. |last9=Frye |first9=F. L. |last10= Holick |first10=M. F.|last11=Chen|first11=T. C. |last12=Lu |first12=Z. |last13= Gross |first13=T. S. |last14= Vogel |first14=J. J. |title= Indoor husbandry of the panther chameleon Chamaeleo (Furcifer) pardalis: Effects of dietary vitamins A and D and ultraviolet irradiation on pathology and life-history traits |journal= Zoo Biology |volume=15 |issue=3 |year=1996 |pages= 279–299 |issn=0733-3188 |doi=10.1002/(SICI)1098-2361(1996)15:3<279::AID-ZOO7>3.0.CO;2-8}}

Turkestan cockroaches are rich in vitamin B12.{{cite journal |title=Determination of vitamin B12 in four edible insect species by immunoaffinity and ultra-high performance liquid chromatography |journal=Food Chemistry |volume=281 |pages=124–129 |doi=10.1016/j.foodchem.2018.12.039 |year=2018|last1=Schmidt |first1=Anatol |last2=Call |first2=Lisa |last3=Macheiner |first3=Lukas |last4=Mayer |first4=Helmut K. |pmid=30658738}}

=Parasite host=

P. lateralis has been identified in Iraq as a host for larvae of the parasitic wasp Ampulex assimilis. An adult wasp stings the cockroach, pulls or leads it by its antenna to the wasp's nest, deposits its egg on the femur of the cockroach's midleg, then closes the nest with debris. Upon hatching, the wasp larva feeds externally, then bores into the cockroach for further food and pupation.{{cite book |title= Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=aO0DAAAAIAAJ |access-date=13 December 2013 |year=1961 |publisher= Smithsonian Institution Press |page=257 }} [https://archive.org/stream/smithsonianmisce1411961smit/smithsonianmisce1411961smit_djvu.txt Alt URL]