Morphology and body composition predict ovipositional history of female smokybrown cockroaches (Dictyoptera: Blattidae) in the laboratory.

We tested the hypothesis that presence and color of shed follicles in ovarioles of smokybrown cockroaches, Periplaneta fuliginosa (Serville), were correlated with the number of oothecae deposited in the laboratory. There were no shed follicles in females not having oviposited, whereas all females that had deposited 1-4 oothecae had shed follicles or resorption bodies, and females that had deposited > or = 5 oothecae had only shed follicle cells in the base of ovarioles. Other important correlates of female age (days after adult eclosion) were abdominal fat-free, thoracic fat and fat-free masses, and leg fat mass. Oocyte length could be substituted for oocyte fat and fat-free mass because these variables were correlated with oocyte length. Crop mass and delay in dissection after oothecal deposition were not correlated to female age or number of oothecae. Mass of body fractions (fat and fat-free) increased as females deposited additional oothecae. A generalized linear model predicted that as thoracic fat mass increased the number of oocytes already deposited by a female increased. In addition, the model predicted that red follicles would be found in females having deposited 1-3 oothecae and yellow follicles were predicted to be found in females having deposited > 2 oothecae.