The Use of Double Translocations to Control Populations of the German Cockroach.
Abstract
A pilot experiment involving the integration of routine insecticide treatments with releases of 'sterile' males (double translocation heterozygotes) for control of the German cockroach was conducted on two ships at Norfolk Naval Base. The sterility mechanism, 'embryonic trapping', is an ancillary affect of the high lethality associated with double translocations. Lethality reduces the number of living embryos so that their combined strength is insufficent to force open the egg case at the time hatch. Double males causing complete sterility were developed and tested in the laboratory during the first 2 years of this Contract. During the past year, the experiment on one ship, an ocean going tug, was completed. Under Objective 1 of the 1979-80 Contract, crossing systems were established for the production of sterile males. Two systems perpetuated the parental translocation stocks; the third was intercrosses from which the progeny included double males (phenotypically wild-type). At termination of the experiment, there were more cockroaches and more infestation sites than present initially (new sites largely in mess deck). We attribute this to a dearth of information on wild-type behavior and population dynamics and under-estimation of residual groups, rather than to a defect in the genetic mechanism.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 1980
- Accession Number
- ADA082210
Entities
People
- Donald G. Cochran
- Mary H. Ross
Organizations
- Virginia Tech