The Japanese Society of Pestology was established in 1986, in Tokyo. The society is constituted by pestologists working for PC companies, research workers in public institutions and the others. Thereafter, they have contributed many scientific achievements to PC industry. In this paper, the historical review of the society is presented.

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Plastic cups containing cuttings of a melon (rind), banana, japanese persimmon, pear (core), ham (slices), or used green tea leaves were placed at the window with slits in a bath room for 9-12 days in September and October in 1999. Occurring adults, pupae, and larvae of small flies were detected on the 12-17th day. Although many fruit flies, Drosophila melanogaster, occurred from the banana, pear, and Japanese persimmon containers, no or very few phorid flies, Megaselia (Aphiochaeta) spiracularis, were found in the containers. In the melon container, however, the number of phorid flies (pupae) was greater than that of the fruit flies (adults) on the 12th day. Very many phorid flies (adults and pupae), Megaselia (Aphiochaeta) spiracularis, were found in the ham container, and very few fruit flies (pupae only) were obtained in the container. Many small moth flies, Psychoda severini Tonir and/or Psychodocha itoco and several phorid flies and minute black scavengers, Scatopse fuscipes, occurred in the green tea grounds container. So many small moth flies had been found invading rooms from outdoor environment, and the results obtained here indicate that they could develop in decaying materials, not necessarily in drain or sewage conditions with ample water.

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Harborages made of 30 species of Japanese wood were evaluated for acceptance to the German cockroach, Blattella germanica, as a hiding place. Two pieces of wood panels (25mm×60mm, 5mm thickness) were fastened at the edges to make a V-shaped harborage. The panels of lauan (Pantacme contorta) plywood were used for control harborages. A pair of test and control harborage was placed in the diagonal position in an arena and exposed to 10 male German cockroaches. Harborage acceptability or repellent index was determined by counting the number of cockroach feces dropped on each of the two-harborage corners after 48 hours. Fewer cockroaches selected the harborages made of Japanese oak, Quercus mongolia (NARA), breech, Fagus crenata (BUNA), Japanese zelkova, Zelkova serrata (KEYAKI), Sawara cypress, Chamaecypari pisifera (SAWARA), Japanese yew, Taxus cuspidata (ICHII) and paulownia, Paulomnia tomentosa (KIRI), compared with lauan plywood panels. The repellent indexes observed for these 6 species were 94.2, 88.0, 81.9, 79.2, 78.3 and 77.5, respectively. The cockroach preferred the harborage made of Spruce, Picea jezoensis (TOUHI), Japanese red ceder, Cryptomeia japonica (SUGI) and Pine, Pinus thunbergii (AKAMATSU) to the harborage of lauan plywood.

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Feces of domiciliary cockroaches often contaminate food or medicine packages. The presence of feces in foraging places is an evidence of a cockroach infestation. The shape and other characteristics of feces are different among species. When they are fed on the mouse chow and adequate amount of water, Blattella germanica deposits feces of approximately 0.70mm long in the male and 0.95mm in the female, the size of which is the smallest among different species, while the largest size of feces is deposited in Periplaneta americana , the size of which is approximately 3.93mm in male and 4.35mm in female. The size of feces of other species is between the above two. On the other hand, when they were fed on an agar-gelatin in order to control water supply, the size of feces decreased in all species. The feces of P. fuliginosa showed high viscosity and have a tendency to contaminate the surface of packages and P. americana and B. germanica produced feces with a considerable viscosity. However, the feces of P. japonica and P. brunnea were always so solid that the possibility of their package contamination appears to be low.

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Nocturnal behavior of cockroaches in green zone in Minato-ku, Tokyo was investigated by means of eye watching and mark and release methods to November from April, in 2003. Japanese cockroach, Periplaneta japonica was seen on all the trees investigated. But smoky brown cockroach, P. fuliginosa was observed only on some trees. Japanese cockroach was observed for every hour from 8:00 p.m. to daybreak in August, September and November. The movement range of Japanese cockroach was investigated by mark and release methods in April, May, July, August and November. Many individuals stayed at the release place and the movement distance was 3m in April and 6m in May. The movement range expanded in July or August and the movement distance was 9m in July. Although movement distance was 4m in August, a marking individual in May was moving 11m. Movement of cockroaches was not observed in November. Japanese cockroach ate drop fruits of the hackberry tree and fungus in oak in the green zone.

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Carboxyesterase activity was observed in three species of insects (Plodia interpunctella, Tribolium castaneum, Megaselia spiracularis) at two different temperatures. The reaction was detected by β-naphthylacetate. This enzyme activity seems to be useful for presumption of the mixing time of the insect in the food.

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[in Japanese]

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[in Japanese]

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[in Japanese]

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