Natural hosts.—Blattidae, Philippine Islands (Schultze, 1925).
Family DERMESTIDAE
Dermestes ater De Geer
Common name.—Black larder beetle.
Natural prey.—Blatta orientalis, U.S.A. (Roth and Willis, unpublished data, 1953): Dermestes ater is generally a scavenger, but we have seen adult beetles, which had developed in our cockroach colony, clinging to and feeding on living oriental cockroaches, eventually killing them; the beetles probably attack only the weakened or injured cockroaches in a culture. This was a natural infestation of a laboratory culture by a predator.
Experimental prey.—Blattella germanica, oöthecae, U.S.A. (Roth and Willis, 1950): The beetle larvae can penetrate unhatched oöthecae of the German but not those of the American or oriental cockroaches.
Dermestes sp.
Natural prey.—Blatta orientalis, oöthecae, U.S.A., Missouri: Rau (1924) stated that Dermestes larvae often infest the egg cases of this cockroach; it is probable that Rau was referring to cockroaches in laboratory cultures.
Order STREPSIPTERA