Behavioral responses to intraspecific competition for food in Blaberidae cockroaches.

CASTELO, M.K.

San José de Costa Rica

Congreso; Animal Behavior Society Conference 2022; 2022

ABS

The intensity of intraspecific competition for the consumption of a limiting food wascharacterized according to developmental stage and sex in the cockroaches Blaberus atropos and Gromphadorhina portentosa. Tests were performed with 16 combinations of status andsex of the contenders, placing two cockroaches in an arena with indivisible food.Observations of the focal individual and companion (15' at 25°C) were made, recording thetimes in which (1) each individual monopolized the food, (2) both fed simultaneously, and(3) neither fed. The GLMs showed that the nymphal females of B. atropos monopolize thefood in greater proportion, whatever the contender. In G. portentosa, the nymphs of bothsexes and the adult females share food, while the adult males tend to monopolize it in theface of any opponent. The results show that access to food in B. atropos is dominated byfemale nymphs, with a previously unknown hierarchical social system, in the coloniesgoverned by sub-adult females, while in G. portentosa the success of consumption would beresponding to the system of hierarchies that the males present.