To deepen the learning experience, when people visit our facility we typically have several live arthropods on display to touch, hold, and learn more detailed information about.
One of the more popular Bug Ambassadors we introduce is the Madagascar Hissing Cockroach. These gentle, but large, insects are great models for demonstrating the features that make insects insects …like having a total of six legs and three different body segments.
But there’s something unique about hissing cockroaches that not everyone notices at first. Eventually, someone will comment on a tiny hitchhiker crawling on their cockroach.
You’ve just met one of the roach’s private cleaning crew …a specific species of mite that spends its entire life living on its roach host.
Sometimes you may notice a dozen or more. Other times, they can be hard to find. But if you know where to look, you’ll locate some hanging out in the creases and crevasses on the roach’s body …places where they’re not easily brushed off.
The roaches are messy eaters, leaving bits of food and debris on their heads. This presents a job opportunity that the mites happily accept.
The tiny cleaning crew tidies up by eating any scraps of food left on the roach’s face. For water, the mites hang out by the roach’s spiracles – the breathing holes in their abdomens – where they can quench their thirst on water vapor. The roach makes a perfect home with everything the mites need to survive.
What do the roaches get in return? The mites keep the roaches clean – preventing mold and pathogens from impacting their health. The human equivalent of tiny bars of soap roaming your body to keep you clean 24 / 7.