The Biotic Associations of Cockroaches

by Louis M. Roth; Edwin R. Willis

Periplaneta americana, France (Kunstler, 1884, 1887); England (Jameson, 1920); Germany (Foerster, 1939).

In body cavity of host. Cysts containing spores are ingested during cannibalistic feeding on infected cockroaches. Sporozoites penetrate the gut wall which later ruptures, freeing the gregarines into the coelom. There is no apparent pathogenic effect. Jameson (1920) found 81 percent of P. americana infested with D. schneideri.