Gregarines from giant lobster cockroaches
Henschoutedenia flexivitta, the giant lobster cockroach or large cinereous cockroach, is distributed through the coastal regions of the Congo and Niger River basins in equatorial west Africa (reported from Ghana, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Congo, and Angola). We are aware of no signifcant literature report of the biology or ecology of this species in nature.
Colonies of Henschoutedenia flexivitta 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.
Joe Fauver is the lead researcher on this project.
