I was a Cockroach Brain Surgeon
Once upon a time, that was a line on my resume.
It is true! I was a graduate student in the Division of Toxicology and Physiology at the Department of Entomology at the University of California, Riverside (UCR). I was working with Dr. Bruce Hammock, now at UC Davis. Bruce was working on Juvenile Hormone. The hormone is responsible for insect growth and development.
Generally I operated on Periplaneta americana, the American cockroach. I had an endless supply of victims, er I mean specimens.
We had plastic garbage bins filled with these cockroaches in a sealed room. They were fed a diet of dried dog food.
Allatectomy
Using a wax block, I carefully restrained a live cockroach. Then using pins on each side of the head, I stretched the head away from the body. The head and body were still attached.
Using a microscope and non-caffeinated hands, I carefully cut into the space under the back of roach’s head. There, dangling below the brain was a mass called the Corpus allatum, the endocrine gland responsible for Juvenile Hormone and its release. I removed the gland and patched up the cockroach.
Dr. Hammock and I were after the hormone, but the surgical removal of the Corpus allatum, also known as allatectomy, can cause immature insect forms to immediately molt into the adults.
Are Most Cockroaches are Disgusting?
I was reflecting on my earlier career while reading my favorite part of the Saturday edition of our local newspaper: Restaurant closures in Riverside County due to health issues. Several had the same problem. Cockroach infestation.
The most common cockroaches in the United States are the German cockroach (Blattella germanica) and the Oriental cockroach (Blatta orientalis).
The German cockroach is very well adapted to human buildings. It is thigmotactic, that means it is attracted to small spaces. Perfect for hiding from humans and other predators. The German cockroach is protected from any natural predators in human buildings. It is the most common residential cockroach pest in the United States. When excited or threatened, the German cockroach emits an unpleasant oder. They are likely the pest that caused the restaurants in my county to close.
The small spaces this roach inhabits may be the very same spots you miss when cleaning. This is why the German cockroach is a vector of food borne diseases such as Salmonella and E. coli. This is why restaurants are closed when the cockroach is present.
Reproduction is another adaptation that makes them such effective pests. The cockroach eggs are usually organized into a 16 segmented structure, an ootheca, that matures and hardens in the female until the last day. The hard ootheca offers protection and then a food source for the hatching nymphs. The nymphs will become mature adults in 50 to 60 days.
The cockroach will eat anything you leave behind. They have been doing this for a long time. There is an urban myth that cockroaches were around before dinosaurs. Not so according to a recent journal article, maybe only 100 million years. So yes, they were there for T. Rex, and will likely be around be on earth long after humans.
I have encountered cockroaches in all of the countries I lived in over the last 40 years. In Germany I remember seeing the Oriental cockroach and the American cockroach. In Asia and the Middle East, it was usually the American cockroach. See the pattern?
Cockroach Farming
Not everyone sees the cockroach as a pest. Raising cockroaches has become a surging industry in China. Cockroach farmers feed Periplaneta americana vegetable waste. In an article for The National (UAE), Wang Fuming described using his 15 million cockroaches to devour 10 million pounds of vegetable waste. In 2014 he made over 200,000 dollars. The cockroaches are used for cosmetics, medicines, and food.
I have eaten a lot of creatures including live termites, but the thought of eating cockroaches does gross me out. If you wish to consider this as a food source, there are a lot of videos online for cooking methods.
Before you decide to go into cockroach farming, check with your local authorities, your neighbors, and your partner. One farmer in China became unpopular when the building that was housing his cockroach farm collapsed, sending a million roaches into his neighborhood.
Cockroach Pets
When I retired/left entomology, I became a substitute teacher. Nothing says “attention getter” like cockroaches in your shirt pocket. I had a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach, Gromphadorhina portentosa, as a pet. Unlike other insects that will fly or run away when threatened, Gromphadorhina portentosa will hiss ominously.
And Finally…
You don’t have to be a cockroach brain surgeon to know the following
If you have a problem with cockroaches, do not leave anything for them to eat. Do not leave dirty dishes out over night. Do not have open food packages in your pantry.
Remember at the top of this article the department of entomology fed their cockroaches dog food. If you clean your dishes, consider cleaning the dishes of your pets each night.