Gregarines from guyana spotted cockroaches
Blaptica dubia, the Guyana spotted cockroach, Orange spotted Cockroach, or Argentian Wood Cockroach, is reported from Central America and South American from Costa Rica south through Argentina(known museum species are from Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina). This species is of some evolutionary interest because adults are dimorphic and there is some evidence that the wingless state of adult females represents a retained nymphal character (neotony) rather than loss of an adult character state.
Colonies of Blaptica dubia maintained in our laboratory are infected with two gregarine species. One is a new species of Blabericola and the other a new species of Protomagalhaensia. Both of these genera are known only from tropical cockroaches and it is not unusual to find "species pairs" (one species of each gregarine genus) restricted to a single host cockroach species. We have collected data on all life cycle stages of these gregarines and are currently publishing descriptions of these new species.
Dave Shaffer is the lead researcher on this project.
