3l6 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I4I 



OBSCURE ASSOCIATIONS 



Cockroaches that are sometimes found in the nests of, or in asso- 

 ciation with, other animals are not necessarily commensals. This is 

 particularly true of cockroaches that normally are found unassociated 

 with other animals or that merely occupy the same habitat with the 

 other animals because of similar microclimatic requirements (see 

 Chopard, 1924c). 



McCook (1877) excavated in February a nest of Formica rufa in 

 Pennsylvania. A hundred or more lively cockroaches occupied a part 

 of the nest that contained few ants. Near the cockroaches McCook 

 also found a colony of Terines flavipcs. Ischnoptera deropeltiformis 

 has been found in the company of ants, but it is probably not myrme- 

 cophilous (Donisthorpe, 1900). Mann (1911) found an "Ischnop- 

 tera" sp. (probably a species of Parcohlatta) abundant in the nests of, 

 and tolerated by, Camponotus maccooki Forel in California. Dead and 

 mutilated specimens of this cockroach were common in the nests of 

 "Formicas." "Ischnoptera" sp. was also common in the nests of Vero- 

 messor andrei (Mayr) [ = Stenamma andrei]. Hebard (1917) re- 

 ported that W. M. Wheeler collected Eremohlatta subdiaphana in 

 Arizona as an ant guest. Rehn (1906a; Rehn and Hebard, 1927) re- 

 ported that Pholadohlatta inusifafa had also been taken by Wheeler 

 from the galleries of a jumping ant, Odontomachiis darns Roger 

 [ = 0. haematodes insularis Guerin var. pallens Wheeler; Brown 

 (personal communication, 1958)], on Andros Island, Bahamas ; Rehn 

 and Hebard (1927) stated that "This genus and species is the only 

 blattid, which is presumably a myrmecophile, known from the West 

 Indies." Rehn (1932a) reported Dendrohlatta sohrina as taken in an 

 ant nest in a tree in the Amazon Basin. Tivia australica was taken in 

 an ant nest in Australia (Princis, 1954). The male of Compsodes 

 schivarzi was taken in an ant nest in the Santa Rita Mountains of 

 Arizona (Ball et al., 1942). A male and female of Stilpnohlatta 

 minuta were taken in a migrating column of the ant Myrmicaria nata- 

 lensis Sm. subsp. eiimenoidcs Gerst. in Nyasaland (Princis, 1949). 

 Princis cautioned that it is premature to derive any inference from 

 this, possibly accidental, association. Four females of Parcohlatta 

 desertae were taken about a nest of an ant, Ischnomyrmex sp. (He- 

 bard, 1943a). A nymph of Parcohlatta virgimca was found in a nest 

 of Formica sp. (Hauke, 1949). 



Chorisoneura texensis has been found in nests of webworm in 

 Florida (Rehn and Hebard, 1916). Karny (1924) in Malaya found 

 an ootheca of Aristiger histrio (sp. ?) between leaves (Cost us sp.) 



