The chemical ecology of the Pacific beetle cockroach, Diploptera punctata

The cockroach, Diploptera punctata, has a wide geographic distribution throughout much of Asia and Hawaii, and as is one of the few vivaparous insect species know, it has been extensively studied by to gain insight into the underlying physiology of this unusual form of reproduction. However, there is not a great deal known about the mating behaviour of this species. We will present results, using populations from Hawaii and Thailand, showing that (i) there is very little interbreeding between the two populations, (ii) short distance pheromones are involved in mating, (iii) there are marked intersexual and inter-race differences in the cuticular profiles (iv) cuticular profiles change with a…