70 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I4I 



Tartaroblatta karatavica 



Asia, Kara-tau Mountains. — Many hundreds of individuals found 

 only under stones on moist earth and not where ground seemed dry ; 

 found on very stony slopes with sparse vegetation, often with under- 

 growth present (Bei-Bienko, 1950). 



STRUCTURAL HABITATS 



In this category we include all man-made structures, whether in- 

 habited by man or not, that may become infested with cockroaches. 

 A nonexhaustive list of such structures would include dwellings, 

 restaurants, mess halls, barracks, groceries, markets, bakeries, dairies, 

 drug stores, department stores, hotels, hospitals, warehouses, mills, 

 factories, packing houses, animal houses, breweries, incinerators, 

 privies, sewers, sewage treatment plants, ships, aircraft, etc. Although 

 dwellings are only one of the many kinds of structures that are 

 colonized by cockroaches, the several species that have adopted this 

 mode of life are generally referred to as domiciliary cockroaches. This 

 term is adequate only if we remember that these cockroaches are not 

 restricted to domiciles but are pests in other structures as well. 



Associations between man and certain species of cockroaches pos- 

 sibly started as casually as the short-lived association that Beebe 

 (1953) observed when he discovered three cockroaches in the newly 

 built couch of an orangutan. Obviously, when man came down from 

 the trees, his fellow travelers found his cave dwellings and other 

 abodes particularly favorable habitats. From such primitive begin- 

 nings, domiciliary cockroaches have spread into every kind of structure 

 that man has since devised. We predict that when man develops a 

 suitable vehicle, cockroaches will someday accompany him into space. 

 Yet despite the apparent predilection of certain species of cockroaches 

 for man, man is only incidental to these associations. Only the shelter 

 and food that man unwittingly provides for these unwelcome guests 

 attract cockroaches to him ; man's physical presence is unnecessary. 



Most, if not all, of the common domiciliary cockroaches apparently 

 originated in the Tropics or sub-Tropics from whence they have 

 spread, through normal commercial channels, into most of the in- 

 habited world. At least eight domiciliary cockroaches originated in 

 Africa (Rehn, 1945) : Blatta orientalis, Blattella germanica, Leii- 

 cophaea maderae, Naiiphoeta cinerea, Oxyhaloa huprestoides, Peri- 

 planeta americana, P. anstralasiae , and Supella supellectilium; and, 

 perhaps, Periplaneta brunnea as well ; Neostylopyga rhombifolia was 

 probably of Indo-Malayan origin ; Pycnoscelus surinatnensis was of 



