Behavioral Endocrinology Chemical Ecology Population Biology Medical/Veterinary Importance Pest Management JH biosynthesis JH and behavior Pheromones OBP/PBP Cuticular lipids Genetic structure rDNA structure Allergens Disease vectors Microbial ecology Food Preferences Biocontrol Fungi Densoviruses Integrated Pest Management Insect growth regulators Monitoring Detection Sampling Thresholds "Push-Pull" Distribution Dispersal Mitigation Intervention Efficacy Homes, schools, institutions, zoos, farms Bait improvement Boric acid

In 1994, the Department of Entomology at North Carolina State University completed renovations of the Blanton J. Whitmire Urban Entomology laboratories. Our goal is to address the public health, veterinary, aesthetic, and economic needs of residential, industrial and agricultural communities by developing and disseminating information on pests of homes and other human-made structures. We focus much of our Urban Entomology research on cockroaches. Recently, we have begun research on bed bugs.

Why cockroaches? Cockroaches provide both an excellent model system for fundamental research in entomology as well as a formidable subject for mission-oriented research on innovative strategies and tactics toward the implementation of integrated approaches (IPM) in the management of pest cockroach populations. We strive for a dynamic balance between these two approaches. To accomplish this our research uses an integrative approach, addressing questions at the molecular, cellular, physiological, behavioral, and ecological levels. We thus value suborganismal, organismal, population and comparative studies of both pest and non-pest cockroach species.

Cockroaches (Blattodea, Order Dictyoptera) are a primitive, yet highly diverse group of insects. They live in temperate as well as tropical habitats, deserts, caves and hollow trees, bromeliad pools, in the nests of birds and social insects, and in association with human-built urban and agricultural structures, sewers, and dump sites. They also exhibit a variety of reproductive strategies, including obligatory and facultative parthenogenesis, oviparity, ovoviviparity, and viviparity. Their social organization ranges from solitary individuals to genetically related families with monogamous parents. Some species have long served as models for studies of invertebrate biochemistry, endocrinology, neurobiology, and behavior. In addition, both volatile and contact pheromones have been characterized chemically and behaviorally in some species. Their large size facilitates biochemical and physiological investigations.

Cockroaches are major urban pests and cockroach infestations spread disease and serve as a major source of allergens that can cause asthma. Our overall goal is to help shape new approaches on environmentally-compatible pest control through basic and applied research on cockroaches.

by Dorit Eliyahu

Inspired by the long-held dogma that Blattella germanica females do not produce a sex attractant, and our discovery of a calling behavior and release of a volatile sex pheromone by sexuially receptive females