Author: Infinitesimal Bright
Myth: Cockroaches have been around since the time of dinosaurs; cockroaches can't fly, they can only glide; pregnant cockroaches can fly; cockroaches eat everything, house clothes, wire paper, and even baby eyelashes! Cockroaches like to drink; they can survive for nine days without their heads; some cockroaches are frightened and can jump several meters; cockroaches are worthy of being small and strong, and can still be safe when exposed to environments that are twelve times more harmful than the human body; and if a family finds a cockroach, the total number may exceed 20,000.
Truth: Let's start with cockroaches. Cockroaches are a generic term for insects of the order Blattodea, and have been found to be about 4,300 species, compared with 250 species in China. Only about a few dozen of them invade human homes. The most common cockroaches in the home are the 3 cm long Periplaneta americana and the Australian cockroach (Periplaneta australasiae); the small ones have a body length of about 1.5 cm (0.59 inches) of German cockroaches (Blattella germanica) and Japanese cockroaches (Blattella bisignata). Cockroaches can spread a variety of diseases, which makes humans particularly concerned. Rumors about them are also true and false, making it difficult to tell.
Cockroaches have existed since the time of dinosaurs
This can't be said to be wrong, but the correct statement is that in the time of dinosaurs, cockroaches have long existed. Because the fossils of cockroaches show that in the early Middle Carboniferous Weiss (about 3. Cockroaches appeared in 200 million years[1], while dinosaurs did not appear until the late Triassic period, 245 million years ago. The cockroach can pat the head of the dinosaur (as long as it is enough) and say kindly: I have watched you grow up ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Late Jurassic – Early Cretaceous (Dinosaur Age) Riclatach *Karatavoblatta formasa fossil, no different from today's cockroaches. *
Cockroaches can't fly, they can only glide, and pregnant cockroaches will fly
I have never seen cockroaches fly, and it is estimated that they are all northerners. Because the cockroaches in the northern home are mainly German cockroaches, although they have wings, they basically do not fly. And the large cockroaches in the south (such as those of cockroaches and turtles) not only often fly, but also go far beyond gliding. Cockroaches can sometimes be seen flying in the light of the southern night, and although the flight technology is not high due to the primitive wing structure, it can easily dive, climb and turn. In general, the flight attitude is very similar to that of praying mantises (because they are taxonomically closest).
The super invincible cosmic thunderbolt King Kong cockroach that flew in the Taiwan lamp was huge when it flew, making people think that it was a unicorn fairy | Photography: Zhang Chenliang
As for the statement that "pregnant cockroaches can fly" is really an inexplicable rumor. The sources that can be found on the Internet are all the same sentence: "It turns out that the flying cockroach is ---- pregnant!" ~ It is said that it only flies to protect the eggs in the stomach. "Probably because flying cockroaches are adults, relative to nymphs, individuals are very large, people think that the big ones are female and pregnant." Don't guess for yourself, in fact, the flight of cockroaches has nothing to do with pregnancy. And there is a counterexample: some insects of the turtle family of cockroaches (that is, often referred to as earth turtles and earthen elements, which are also a type of cockroach) are female wingless and male winged. So no matter how pregnant the female is, she can't fly...
The Jidi turtle commonly found in North China. Males and females, usually the most common, used for pharmaceuticals are female insects.
Cockroaches eat everything, houses, clothes, wires, paper...
About the recipe for cockroaches, Joseph Joseph, a physiologist and biochemist who studies cockroach evolution at the University of Massachusetts Amherst Campus in Massachusetts, USA. Joseph G. Kunkel answered on his website: Cockroaches are omnivores, and in most cases, they eat anything organic. They mostly eat dead or immobile things and do not prey on living creatures. They will eat hair, wood, glue from stamps, and glue from glue books because traditional glues contain animal proteins. [2]
In nature, the little strong people eat and drink and eat everything. This is a beautiful little strong | in the jungle of Taiwan Photography: Zhang Chenliang
Cockroaches like to drink
That's true, but it's not surprising. Cockroaches tend to eat fermented foods,[3] and many foods emit wine aromas after fermentation, and it is not unusual for cockroaches to be attracted to wine. In fact, not only cockroaches, butterflies, moths, flower turtles, rhinoceros turtles, spade shells, bees, ants and other insects like wine-flavored food. Beside rotten fruit and sap flowing out, they can often be seen licking greedily. Among the pasteurized attractants commonly used by insect lovers to lure insects, a very important recipe is wine. Besides, even animals that are so picky about humans like wine, why can't cockroaches, such a non-picky animal, like wine?
The sap flowing from the tree's wounds, which, after fermentation, gives off a strong wine smell and attracts a variety of insects, including the four-spotted open-tailed nails and flat spades in the picture.
Cockroaches can survive for nine days without their heads
This, Joseph. Conker also explained: not only cockroaches, but also many other insects can live a long time without their heads. He compared headless cockroaches to headless humans:
1) If humans have their heads cut off, they will bleed and die, but the circulatory system of insects is different from humans, which is an open-tube cycle, and when the head is cut off, the wounds on their necks will be quickly blocked under the action of sac blood cells or podocytes (similar to the role played by human platelets), so that the blood will not flow continuously.
2) Human breathing relies on the mouth or nose, and the brain controls these functions, so cut off the head and the breathing will stop. Insects breathe through the valves in the abdomen, and they do not need to control breathing function through the brain, and the blood does not have to transport oxygen. They only need to go through the valve pipe to breathe air directly through the conduit.
3) Cockroaches are warmer animals and do not need to expend energy to maintain body temperature, which means they need much less food than humans. They can survive for weeks with a single meal. And after the head is removed, the cockroach will honestly stay there and will not run around, which can reduce physical exertion. Under laboratory conditions, as long as they do not encounter predators and their wounds are not infected with bacteria or viruses, they can continue to live for even a month until they starve to death.
However, this seemingly cattle ability has no meaning in people's lives. Because the cockroach's head is small, hidden under the dorsal plate of the front chest, and there is a sensitive antenna detection danger, even if it is accidentally injured, it is almost impossible to be intact and only lose its head. Even if it really falls, with the dirty environment in which it usually lives, the wound will quickly infect and die. However, if a female cockroach carrying an egg sac loses its head, its eggs will still hatch. Because the eggs are ripe from the moment they are laid, there is no need to obtain nutrients from the mother. Even if you crack the female egg, as long as the egg sac is not broken, the eggs inside can hatch normally.
Some cockroaches are frightened and can jump several meters away
Extant cockroaches are known to have no jumping ability, except for this. Last year, South African scientists Mike Picker and Jonathan Colville discovered a small jumping, strong Saltoblattella montistabularis in Cape Town's Table Mountain National Park. They initially thought it was a cockroach that they had caught, but later discovered that it was a cockroach. Prior to the discovery of this species, only jumping cockroaches were known in the late Jurassic Period. It has now been listed as one of the top ten new species in 2010 by IISE (International Species Survey Association, part of Arizona State University, which annually lists the top ten new species of the previous year).
As can be seen from the tail whiskers, this is indeed a cockroach
But the "jump a few meters away" in this rumor certainly does not refer to this cockroach, because it was only discovered last year, and this rumor appeared on the Internet at least in 2007. The jump referred to in the rumor should actually be the short-distance flight that cockroaches often have after being frightened.
Cockroaches can be exposed to environments that are twelve times larger than the harmful doses of the human body
The sentence itself is not rigorous, because it does not say exactly what the harmful dose of the poison is. After inquiry, the rumor crusher investigator believed that it may refer to nuclear radiation. Because data show that in 1963, two scientists Ross and Cochran found that cockroaches are six to fifteen times more lethal in radiation than humans. But don't be too busy admiring Xiao Qiang, first look at other insects: after the Hiroshima nuclear explosion, it was found that some moths and their eggs can grow normally at 48,000 to 68,000 rads (radiation absorption dose units); in 1959, two scientists named Wharton discovered that 64,000 rads of radiation killed the most common fruit flies in the laboratory, and a soft cocoon bee even took 180,000 rads to kill. And what about our invincible little strong? Ross and Cochran interfered with their fertility with just 1,000 rads, and 6,400 rad killed 93 percent of cockroaches. [5] It can be seen that the cockroach is indeed more than ten times stronger than a human radiation resistance, but compared with other insects, you know that it is at best a "level 2 mutant"...
According to TVBS, the Nuclear Laboratory of Tsinghua University in Taiwan found that if a cockroach is irradiated with nuclear radiation, the same dose of human death will die, but the cockroach is fine. That's true, but you should look at other insects at the same time.
If a single cockroach is found in the average household, the total number may exceed 20,000
This rumor, like the previous one, does not stand up to scrutiny. First of all, the description is very vague, what kind of family is the average family? Also, where was "Found One" found? Is it found in the kitchen where cockroaches are most likely to gather or in the bedroom? Discovered during the day or at night? Is it one found in a day or one in ten years? In the end, the word "maybe" appeared. Isn't that the same as not saying it? Maybe this one! Anything is possible! Most importantly, there is no academic literature to confirm this view, and this rumor is purely to scare people. However, if your family often sees cockroaches coming out and crawling during the day (note that it is often), then your family has a lot of cockroaches. Because several cockroaches commonly found in the home are nocturnal, they just hide in the cracks during the day. If there are so many cockroaches that all the gaps are full, the extra cockroaches will have to swing outside during the day...
Conclusion: Cockroaches are indeed one of the most successful species on earth, and they can't be convinced. However, some of its behaviors are common phenomena in the insect world, but because it only gets along with humans day and night, people think that only it is so strong. In fact, in order to adapt to the environment and survive, each species has its own unique survival skills. Hum, the world is so sinister, there are no two brushes how to come out of the mix.
Finally, a free recipe for killing cockroaches was given to everyone, and the investigators of the rumor crusher personally tested: the boric acid powder (available in pharmacies) was mixed with the steamed mashed potatoes of the same weight, and the appropriate amount of sugar was added to it, placed in the nook and cranny through which cockroaches must pass, and within a week all cockroaches would die and disappear without a trace. In fact, boric acid as a non-organic phosphorus and non-pyrethroids for the control of cockroaches has long been reported [6], some cockroaches also contain boric acid components. When using, pay attention to avoid boric acid entering the eyes, avoid accidental ingestion, and need to be placed in places out of reach of children's pets. Cockroaches have a miraculous effect, you may wish to try it.
Source: "Tang Bohu Dian Qiu Xiang"
Resources:
Lin Qibin Fossils of cockroach insects in China. Acta Entomology,1980, 21: 335-342.
[2] The Cockroach FAQ
Qi Xin, Sun Yunqin Biological characteristics and comprehensive management of German cockroach. Chinese Journal of Vector Biology and Control. February 2004 Vol. 15, No. 1.
[4] Top 10 New Species - 2011
[5] Cockroaches and radiation
Wu Zhaohui Chemical control of cockroaches and application of glue bait. Sanitary Insecticides 2001(01)
Individuals are welcome to forward to the circle of friends