Audit expert: Li Weiyang
Well-known popular science writer
Cockroaches are a "magical" being.
Since the word "Xiao Qiang" appeared in Stephen Chow's movie "Tang Bohu Dian Qiu Xiang", the pronoun of cockroach has not gone away and spread to every household. But to be honest, it is most appropriate to call them "xiaoqiang", because as the name suggests, they are really not generally strong.
To be precise, the word cockroach does not refer to an insect, but to thousands of species (excluding termites) in the order cockroaches. The "small strong" who make trouble in our daily life mainly include black and brown cockroaches, American cockroaches, German cockroaches, Japanese cockroaches and a few others, and most of the rest live in the wild environment.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="11" > the difference between the north and the south</h1>
In evolution, although the appearance of cockroaches has not changed much, different types of cockroaches have gradually changed in body shape.
Taking China as an example, the cockroaches in the north and the cockroaches in the south are not an order of magnitude player.
Most of the cockroaches in the south are American cockroaches, Australian cockroaches and brown-spotted cockroaches. They are warm and humid, large and flying, widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions, often in outdoor or indoor crevices, and are a nightmare for many northern friends who are new to the south.
Screenshot of netizen comments Source 丨 Weibo
Even because the cockroaches in the south are too large, there are spoof pictures of "Guangdong cockroaches are worried about you" on the Internet.
Source 丨 Network
The southern cockroach is more than that, because of its strong vitality, even if it is sprayed with insecticide, it will not be killed on the spot, and it can even escape with an insecticide.
Even the cockroach glue bait should be tasted, and a little bit of packing should be taken away. Source 丨 Station B
As for the cockroaches in the north, they are much inferior, not only small in size, but also less resistant to pesticides and slippers.
Most of the northern cockroaches belong to the German cockroaches, which are about the size of melon seeds and peanuts. Although small, they are quite adaptable and most widely distributed, and they are found in almost all human settlements around the world.
With a little suitable food, German cockroaches can basically survive and even breed. And compared with the Southern cockroaches such as the American cockroach, the German cockroach has another advantage, that is, they are more hardy.
The fear of cold coupled with the high reproductive rate makes the German cockroach the most difficult to control among cockroaches.
Common cockroach species Source丨Pet network
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="82" > small strong, really strong</h1>
If you want to trace the origin of cockroaches, it is much older than humans. Fossil evidence shows that the earliest members of the cockroach order appeared in the Carboniferous period more than 350 million years ago, arguably one of the oldest of the insect families.
Surprisingly, cockroaches were born early, but after hundreds of millions of years of evolution, their appearance has not changed much. Even ordinary people without a background in biological knowledge can recognize at a glance when they see the bug in the fossil, which is the "Xiao Qiang" that everyone shouts and beats in life.
Throughout the long course of evolution, they have been witnessing changes in the world in humble corners. They have a strong ability to reproduce. A female cockroach only mates once or twice in her life, and they can store their sperm after mating and keep them for later use.
When the cockroach lays eggs, it wraps the eggs with a special secretion that dries out and becomes a brown hard shell called an "egg sheath". They look like red adzuki beans, resistant to high temperatures, dryness, and even ordinary pesticides. The egg sheath protects the eggs inside from invasion, which is one of the reasons why the cockroach population is strong.
Cockroach egg sheath Source 丨 Tencent.com
What's more, some cockroaches (such as the American cockroach) even have a big trick of "parthenogenesis"! When living conditions are dangerous or unable to mate, these female cockroaches are also able to lay eggs that can hatch on their own. And these little cockroaches without a father are also female cockroaches, and the genetic information is exactly the same as the mother.
Cockroaches for food can be said to be a non-refusal, what to eat. Rotten meat, feces, leftovers, books, clothes, hair, soap, wires... Most of the garbage produced by humans can be used as a feast for cockroaches.
In addition to an excellent appetite, they have a strong motor nervous system. According to scientists, cockroaches can run over a distance of 50 times the length of their body per second, which is equivalent to a human running speed of 330 kilometers per hour! Moreover, cockroaches have a strong balance ability, and they can still walk like a fly on a rugged and potholed surface. Scientists were inspired by this to use cockroaches as the best model of movement, for example, the design inspiration for the 6-wheeled Mars rover was obtained from cockroaches.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="83" > small powerful uses</h1>
The Zhou Li records: "Five medicines, herbs and insects Shi Guya." "The use of insects as a medicine for curing diseases has a history of more than 2,000 years in China. Nowadays, there are more than 300 kinds of medicinal insects in Chinese medicine, including ants, bees, cockroaches and other insects.
In traditional medicine and ethnic minority cultures, cockroaches are used to make medicines, and modern medicine has also used cockroach extracts to make medicines. The main active ingredient of the "Healing New Liquid" used to treat wounds and ulcers is American cockroach extract. Even cockroach extracts may be used to treat AIDS.
Other studies have found that cockroaches have three substances in their bodies that can delay the death of nerve cells in people's brains and even regenerate the desired brain nerve cells. This means that in the future, it is possible for humans to use cockroaches to fight aging and treat Alzheimer's disease.
In addition to medicinal uses, cockroaches have other uses. In the eyes of pet owners, it is excellent feed that can make tropical fish colorful; in the eyes of engineering experts, it is the best model of movement, giving radio experts many inspirations; in the eyes of cockroach enthusiasts, it is a pet, low-key, quiet, and docile; however, in the eyes of most people, although cockroaches are very useful, they are still not a "good thing".
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="84" > cockroach control strategy</h1>
There are many cockroach drugs on the market, which can be roughly divided into the following four categories:
Spray: the effect is significant in places with high cockroach density, but it is easy to make cockroaches resistant and pollute the environment;
Powder: The agent is easy to enter the crevice, but it is easy to fail in a humid environment;
Aerosols: can also kill mosquitoes, flies, but the operation has a certain danger, and there is pollution to the environment, after use need to open the window ventilation;
Glue bait: safe and convenient to use, high killing rate, not easy to produce resistance, no pollution to the environment, can be continuous insecticidal effect.
The glue bait is like a cockroach like a delicacy mixed with poison. The Shanghai Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention has conducted a test on commonly used bait products on the market. The results showed that the three mainstream components - fipronil, sulfluramid and imidacloprid - had similar product effects, and the fatality rate of 72 hours was 90% to 100%.
9 different kinds of rubber bait and content Source 丨《Observation of the extinction effect of 9 kinds of cockroach glue bait on the wild strain of German cockroach》
However, the little cockroach is haunted, and the god "worm" sees the beginning and does not see the end. Where are they hiding? Knock on the blackboard! The following three locations may be the hardest hit areas.
Plenty of food, generally for the kitchen.
Source 丨 Lilac Life Institute
Warm and humid place, small appliances, sockets, stoves, radiators around, etc.
Places with many seams and porous holes. Sanitary dead ends and crevices that are rarely cleaned may hide cockroaches.
In summary, in addition to buying the right medicine, you must also be able to use medicine in order to truly achieve the desired effect. However, it should be noted that long-term use of the same drug will make cockroaches resistant, it is recommended to rotate the use of different brands of cockroach drugs. Moreover, the bodies after killing must be disposed of in a timely manner, and the deep cleaning of the family should be done regularly.
All in all, know thyself and know the other to win every battle. Do a good job of daily hygiene, keep the environment clean, you can and XiaoQiang say goodbye!