Endocrine aspects of ovary growth and gestation in the Argentinian cockroach,<i>Blaptica dubia</i>(Dictyoptera, Blaberidae)

Alamer, Ahmad Hussein; Hoffmann, Klaus H.

doi:10.1080/07924259.2013.797935

Cited by 5 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Blaptica dubia is a quite large (up to 45 mm in length) sexually dimorphic blaberid cockroach (Wu, 2013). They typically live in aggregations at high temperature and humidity in central and south America (Alamer & Hoffmann, 2014), consuming vegetative matter, and are ovoviviparous. They are described as “gregarious” (Grandcolas, 1998) or “communal” as individuals of the same generation cohabit (without shared parental care; Bewick et al ., 2017).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Direct and indirect phenotypic effects on sociability indicate potential to evolve

Fisher

2022

Preprint

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The decision to leave or join a group is important as group size influences many aspects of organisms’ lives and their fitness. This tendency to socialise with others, sociability, should be influenced by genes carried by focal individuals (direct genetic effects) and by genes in partner individuals (indirect genetic effects), indicating the trait’s evolution could be slower or faster than expected. However, estimating these genetic parameters is difficult. Here, in a laboratory population of the cockroach Blaptica dubia, I estimate phenotypic parameters for sociability: repeatability (R) and repeatable influence (RI), that indicate whether direct and indirect genetic effects respectively are likely. I also estimate the interaction coefficient (Ψ), which quantifies how strongly a partner’s trait influences the phenotype of the focal individual and is key in models for the evolution of interacting phenotypes. Focal individuals were somewhat repeatable for sociability across a three-week period (R = 0.095), and partners also had marginally consistent effects on focal sociability (RI = 0.045). The interaction coefficient was non-zero, although in opposite sign for the sexes; males preferred to associate with larger individuals (Ψmale = −0.130) while females preferred to associate with smaller individuals (Ψfemale = 0.032). Individual sociability was consistent between dyadic trials and in social networks of groups. These results provide phenotypic evidence that direct and indirect genetic effects influence sociability, with perhaps most evolutionary potential stemming from heritable effects of the body mass of partners. Sex-specific interaction coefficients may produce sexual conflict and the evolution of sexual dimorphism in social behaviour.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Direct and indirect phenotypic effects on sociability indicate potential to evolve

Fisher

2022

Preprint

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“…Recently, we have demonstrated that changes in the concentrations of JH III and free ecdysteroids in the haemolymph of B. dubia adult females are strongly related to the reproductive processes of ovarian growth, ootheca formation and egg deposition (Alamer and Hoffmann 2013). JH III seems to be the major gonadotropic hormone, but ecdysteroids may modulate vitellogenesis and egg production.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Cockroaches, B. dubia, were maintained as described earlier (Alamer and Hoffmann 2013). Under our rearing conditions, first mating occurred at day 4 after adult emergence, ovulation was observed at day 19 ± 4 and oviposition started on day 69 ± 5 of adult life (n = 10).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Titers of JH III, ecdysone, and 20-hydroxyecdysone in the haemolymph of the females were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry as previously described (Alamer and Hoffmann 2013;Westerlund and Hoffmann 2004).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a previous paper, we showed that JH III is the major gonadotropic hormone in adult females of B. dubia, but that ecdysteroids (ecdysone, 20-hydroxyecdysone) may modulate vitellogenesis and egg production (Alamer and Hoffmann 2013). In this paper, we studied the effects of the two JH analogues, methoprene and pyriproxyfen, on vitellogenesis, ootheca formation, gestation and oviposition during the first gonotrophic cycle of adult females.…”

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confidence: 98%

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Effects of juvenile hormone analogue treatment in adult females of the ovoviviparous cockroach,Blaptica dubia(Dictyoptera, Blaberidae)

Alamer

Hoffmann

2013

Invertebrate Reproduction & Development

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Adult females of the ovoviviparous Argentinian cockroach, Blaptica dubia, were repeatedly treated with either 100 μg methoprene or 100 μg pyriproxyfen in 5 μL acetone either during the first vitellogenic cycle or during the period of gestation. Treatment during the first vitellogenic cycle (days 2-20 of adult life) did not inhibit vitellogenesis and oocyte growth, but prevented the formation of an ootheca. This was accompanied with a significant reduction of the titer of juvenile hormone (JH) III and an increased amount of ecdysone (E) and 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E) in the haemolymph of the animals. Treatment of adult females during the period of gestation (days 30-70) resulted in a complete degradation and resorption of the ootheca and induced another vitellogenic cycle. Again, this was associated with a decrease in haemolymph JH III titer, but an increase in the concentrations of free ecdysteroids.

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Measuring the effect of RFID and Marker Recognition tags on cockroach behaviour using AI aided tracking

McLean,

Fisher

2024

Preprint

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RFID technology and marker recognition algorithms can offer an efficient and non-intrusive means of tracking animal positions. As such, they have become important tools for invertebrate behavioural research. Both approaches require fixing a tag or marker to the study organism, and so it is useful to quantify the effects such procedures have on behaviour before proceeding with further research. However, frequently studies do not report doing such tests. Here, we demonstrate a time-efficient and accessible method for quantifying the impact of tagging on individual movement using open-source automated video tracking software. We tested the effect of RFID tags and tags suitable for marker recognition algorithms on the movement of Argentinian wood roaches (Blapicta dubia) by filming tagged and untagged roaches in laboratory conditions. We employed DeepLabCut on the resultant videos to track cockroach movement and extract measures of behavioural traits. We found no statistically significant differences between RFID tagged and untagged groups in average speed over the trial period, the number of unique zones explored, and the number of discrete walks. However, groups that were tagged with labels for marker recognition had significantly higher values for all three metrics. We therefore support the use of RFID tags to monitor the behaviour ofB. dubiabut note that the effect of using labels suitable for label recognition to identify individuals should be taken into consideration when measuringB.dubiabehaviour. We hope that this study can provide an accessible and viable roadmap for further work investigating the effects of tagging on insect behaviour.

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Endocrine aspects of ovary growth and gestation in the Argentinian cockroach,Blaptica dubia(Dictyoptera, Blaberidae)

Cited by 5 publications

References 18 publications

Direct and indirect phenotypic effects on sociability indicate potential to evolve

Direct and indirect phenotypic effects on sociability indicate potential to evolve

Effects of juvenile hormone analogue treatment in adult females of the ovoviviparous cockroach,Blaptica dubia(Dictyoptera, Blaberidae)

Measuring the effect of RFID and Marker Recognition tags on cockroach behaviour using AI aided tracking

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