RT journal article
T1 Flower visits of cockroaches (Insecta: Blattodea) in the Iberian Peninsula: Are they neglected pollinators?
A1 Pérez Gómez, Alvaro
A1 León-Osper, Melissa
A1 Pareja, Daniel
A1 Robla, Jairo
A2 Biología
K1 cockroach ecology
K1 colour perception
K1 European pollinators
K1 interaction network
K1 phenology
K1 pollination syndrome
AB Although several insect orders have been deeply studied in plant–animal interactions(e.g. pollination) cockroaches have traditionally been ignored in taxonomic and ecological studies. However, they could be playing a role in the reproduction of severalplants. To date, 8 plant species use cockroaches as a pollination agent. In our study, wehave reviewed 2865 records from citizen science platforms and our own data from theIberian Peninsula to find flower visits made by cockroaches. We have detected 51 interaction records involving at least 8 different cockroach species and 35 plant species.Furthermore, nearly half of the detected cockroaches carried pollen on various partsof their bodies. These insects were found to mainly visit white, yellow and pink flowers from Apiaceae, Asteraceae and Cistaceae plant families (among others) mainly inlate spring and early summer. However, for the confirmation of effective pollination,new studies must be carried out. Additionally, although the existence of pollinationsyndrome is far from being understood, we provide new insights that could help shedsome light on this unknown relationship. Here we provide the first approximation ofcockroach floral perception and we have detected that white flowers show the bestfit and higher conspicousness to cockroach colour vision, as suggested for other neglected pollinator insects.
PB Wiley
SN 1439-0418
YR 2023
FD 2023
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10498/31493
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10498/31493
LA eng
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Cádiz
RD 22-sep-2026