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Insect Quiz January, 2007 |
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Insect Quiz January, 2007 |
You are sitting in your apartment in your living room one night. You are watching television with most of the lights off. You happen to notice an insect crawl from behind a picture on the wall and start to walk around. You get up and capture it in a jar. It is medium-sized and brown with long antennae.
1. What is this insect?
This an adult male brownbanded cockroach. Adult males are about ½ inch long. They have golden brown, narrow bodies with wings that extend beyond the tip of their abdomens. Also look for adult females that are about the same size but have dark chestnut brown teardrop-shaped bodies with wings that do not completely cover their bodies. Both males and females have somewhat distinctive horizontal yellow bands across their bodies. Immature nymphs are wingless with two pale bands running horizontally across their bodies.
Don’t confuse cockroaches for other insects, such as western conifer seed bugs or long‑horned beetles. These insects are slow moving and seen during the day whereas cockroaches move quickly and avoid light when they can.
2. Where did it come from?
Brownbanded cockroaches, like most cockroaches in Minnesota, are easily transported in bags, boxes, purses, luggage, furniture, appliances and other objects from infested areas in buildings. Once in an apartment or other multi-unit building, they can easily disperse along plumbing and electric wiring and move into adjacent units. When found in homes, this cockroach is typically found in warm, dry areas, including behind pictures and clocks, in furniture, behind or under appliances, among books and similar areas.
3. What kind of damage, if any, can it cause?
Brownbanded cockroaches, like other cockroaches, are pests for several reasons. They are a significant source of allergens and are the number one source of asthma amongst children, especially those in inner city locations. Cockroaches can give off a foul odor and can also contaminate food, pots and pans, utensils, and counter surfaces. They can potentially transmit disease organisms, such as Salmonella and E. coli which can increase the risk of food poisoning and diarrhea.
4. What is the best management for this insect?
Successful elimination of brownbanded cockroaches in homes requires a multi pronged approach which includes monitoring, especially with sticky traps; sanitation, e.g. keeping dishes clean, food residue picked up, and plumbing leaks repaired; harborage reduction, including removal of newspapers and boxes and sealing small spaces where cockroaches might hide; nonchemical control, such as freezing small items and vacuuming (be sure to use a vacuum with a HEPA filter) and insecticide applications. Because of the challenge of eliminating cockroaches, insecticides should be applied by a licenced pest control technician. They have the experience and wider array of products to be successful. They will typically use either baits or sprays.
If you live in a apartment or similar multi-unit dwelling, it is also important that building owners/landlords, tenants, and pest control technicians work together to eliminate the problem. At minimum infested apartments and all adjacent ones should be treated. If the infestation is widespread, the entire building probably needs treatment.
http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/housingandclothing/DK1003.html and http://www.extension.umn.edu/yardandgarden/YGLNews/YGLN‑Dec0105.html#roach
