34 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I4I 



sidered. Some cockroaches in this section select specific microhabitats 

 (e.g., Cryptocercus spp., which Hve exclusively in rotten logs ; and 

 Neohlattella dryas, N. eurydice, and A^". grossbecki in bromeliads). 

 Others are found in a wide variety of habitats (e.g., Ischnoptera 

 deropeltiformis and Parcohlatta spp.). But some species are so little 

 known that their actual habitats are barely suggested in the collection 

 data. 



Williams (1941) made an ecological study of the floor fauna of the 

 Panama rain forest. He found Orthoptera (nearly all were unidenti- 

 fied nymphal cockroaches) in the litter of dead leaves, twigs, and other 

 plant products in over 90 percent of the quadrats he examined. These 

 insects represented about 0.25 percent of the total animal population. 



Delamare Deboutteville (1948) made a quantitative study of the 

 animal population in suspended soil that had accumulated between the 

 roots of forest epiphytes of the lower Ivory Coast. He analyzed 2 

 dm.^ samples of soil from an epiphyte located 45 meters above ground 

 on a main branch of Parinarium, with these results: Horizon A. — 

 Superficial zone of large rootlets, 6 cm. deep : 2 cockroaches, 4 arach- 

 nids, and 4 beetles. H orison B. — Zone of fine rootlets, 6 cm. deep : 

 6 cockroaches and numerous other arthropods. Horizon C. — Humid 

 zone, 8 cm. deep: 7 cockroaches and numerous other arthropods. 

 Plants, such as Palissota, were also living in this very original biotype. 



The species of cockroaches listed below have been found in the 

 following kinds of outdoor microhabitats: In jungle, forest, and 

 woodlands they have been found in rotten wood ; under bark of living, 

 dead, and fallen trees ; in decay cavities in trees ; burrowing in living 

 bark ; on foliage of trees, shrubs, bushes, and low herbage ; on vines 

 and in bromeliads and epiphytic ferns; under signs on trees and 

 stumps; in piles of logs and firewood; under dead leaves and debris; 

 in and under decaying fruit on the ground. Cockroaches have been 

 found between the leaves and under leaf sheaths of sugarcane, corn, 

 and other grasses ; under dry fibers and fronds of coconut trees ; in 

 hollow stems and bases of tree-fern fronds ; under bracts of banana 

 blossoms and in bunches of bananas (p. 146). Cockroaches also in- 

 habit abandoned cocoons and larval tents, wasp nests, ant nests, ter- 

 mite nests, bird nests, rat nests, and burrows of other rodents (pp. 23- 

 25, 310-319). Cockroaches have been found in rock crevices and 

 under rocks ; under boards and other objects on ground ; under sea- 

 weed, drift, and other debris on beaches ; burrowing in soil and under 

 clods of earth; in marshes and swamps; in dumps and rubbish heaps. 



