Gustatory associative learning behavior of German cockroaches ( Blattodea: Ectobiidae)

The German cockroach (Blattella germanica (L.)) is an economically challenging urban pest to manage due to its ability to become physiologically and behaviorally resistant to insecticides. Many studies focus on its physiological resistance mechanisms that allow it to survive insecticides, but few studies have concentrated on its behavioral resistance. A well-studied behavioral resistance mechanism is glucose-aversion, where glucose-aversed German cockroaches can avoid the insecticide gel bait because they detect glucose in the bait as a bitter taste with their gustatory receptors. It is unclear, however, if German cockroaches can learn to associate a gustatory cue to an insecticide exposure and avoid the insecticide over time. This study investigates whether an insecticide-susceptible strain of the German cockroach can learn to avoid a particular food by associating the sucrose to intoxication. The findings of this study will be discussed to explain German cockroach learning behavior and how it could influence German cockroach response to insecticides in the laboratory and the field.