What does Cryptocercus kyebangensis, n.sp. (Dictyoptera: Blattaria: Polyphagidae) from Korea reveal about Cryptocercus evolution? A study in morphology, molecular phylogeny, and chemistry of tergal glands
doi: 10.1635/0097-3157(2001)151[0061:WDCKNS]2.0.CO;2 0097-3157 doi: 10.1635/0097-3157(2001)151[0061:WDCKNS]2.0.CO;2; The description of a new species of the woodroach Cryptocercus kyebangensis Grandcolas from South Korea offers the opportunity to bring comparative information within the genus. This species, though morphologically very similar to other East Asian and North American species, presents conspicuous differentiation of both ribosomal genes (sequenced fragments of 12S and 16S) and chemical blends from tergal glands (proportions of linalyl acetate and the alcohol 4, 6, 8-trimethyl-7, 9-undecadien-5-ol, compounds previously identified in females originating from North America). A phy…
The cockroach Blattella germanica obtains nitrogen from uric acid through a metabolic pathway shared with its bacterial endosymbiont.
Uric acid storedin the fat bodyof cockroaches is a nitrogen reservoirmobilized in times of scarcity. The discovery of urease in Blattabacterium cuenoti, the primary endosymbiont of cockroaches, suggests that the endosymbiont may participate in cockroach nitrogen economy. However, bacterial urease may only be one piece in the entire nitrogen recycling process from insect uric acid. Thus, in addition to the uricolytic pathway to urea, there must be glutamine synthetase assimilating the released ammonia by the urease reaction to enable the stored nitrogen to be metabolically usable. None of the Blattabacterium genomes sequenced to date possess genes encoding for those enzymes. To test the host…