Ants and Cockroaches Trapped Outside Houses 1 1 



Table 1. Mean numbers of insects collected near houses during the initial 

 trapping period with baited and unbaited traps. 







Insect category a 











All insects 



Bait 



Ants 



Cockroaches 



except Collembola b 



Boiled raisins 



12.34a 



0.19a 



13.61a 



Bread 



2.55b 



0.67b 



5.12b 



Unbaited 



0.50c 



0.02c 



1.34c 



a Mean number of specimens per trap. Numbers followed by different letters 



within a column are significantly different (P< 0.01). 

 b Collembola are excluded because of the large number of specimens that were 



often present in the traps, especially following periods of rain. 



done 1, 2, 4, and 8 weeks after insecticide application. Ants and 

 cockroaches were identified to species. 



Data were analyzed using a general linear models procedure with a 

 one-way analysis of variance and unequal numbers of replications. 



RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 



A wide range of molluscs and arthropods were taken from a total of 

 1,969 trap collections. Five classes of arthropods (Arachnida, Chilopoda, 

 Crustacea, Diplopoda, and Insecta) and 14 orders of insects were 

 represented. 



Data for the 420 traps used during the initial trapping period 

 indicated significant (P = 0.01) differences in bait preferences for the 

 trapped insects (Table 1). Ants preferred boiled raisins over bread, while 

 cockroaches selected bread over boiled raisins. Unbaited traps took the 

 fewest specimens in all comparisons. All insects combined (omitting 

 Collembola) preferred boiled raisins over bread. Data for later trapping 

 periods were not analyzed for bait preferences. Owing to a high standard 

 error, no differences were discernible in the number of specimens 

 relative to ground-cover type or trap placement by direction (N,E,S,W) 

 from the dwellings. 



Ants were the most frequently trapped group of insects; that also 

 was reported by Cockfield and Potter (1984), who found them to be the 

 most common predatory arthropods. There were 7,331 ants trapped, 

 representing 26 species in 15 genera (Table 2). The five species most 

 widely distributed and collected in the greatest number of traps were 

 Camponotus americanus Mayr, Formica subsericia Say, Paratrechina 

 faisonensis (Forel), Pheidole dentata Mayr, and Prenolepsis imparis 

 (Say); C. americanus and P. dentata were the most common of these 



