In the terraria world, when we speak about mites, it's never in the good way!

Usually, the species we talk about is Ophionyssus natricis, a mite that we find on snake most of the time (or ophidians, that's why the latin root "Ophio"), but it can also be find on other kind of reptiles.

 

However, we can mentionned two other species of mites that are not bad for our reptiles. There is Cheyletus eruditus, also known as Taurrus, who is predator mite (but it can cause allergies to human, like asthma and eczema). And the second, less known, is Androlaelaps schaeferi, it's the one i want to talk about here, him and its host, a cockroach.

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A mite and a cockroach, one is an arachnid, and the other is an insect. What can be the relation between them?

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Well, despite the fact that mites are usually known as "parasites", in this case, there are not parasites at all. The mites of this species take advantage of the cockroaches of the Gromphadorhina genus (Madagascar hissing cockroaches) to feed, but the cockroach don't get anything in this relationship, that's what we call commensalism (Co = together / Mensa = table, litterally : eating at the same table).

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However, i read while i was looking for informations that the mites might clean the cockroaches in their deepest corners, so in the unreachable places of the cockroach for the cockroach itself. In this case, it would actually be mutualism, because the two parties benefits each other.

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I knew (really?) the meaning of symbiosis and parasitism, but not the words commensalism, mutualism, amensalism and neutralism.

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                   -   Commensalism : A species is host and "bring" the food to the second that don't do damage.

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An example of commensalism that most of people know : You must have seen in the field near the road, white little birds in the middle of cows. This bird is the cattle egret, and he's not here by chance. In fact, he indirectly using the cows to feed, when they move the cows disturb the insects that have to move, and the cattle egret only has to catch them. So the cows help the cattle egret to feed, but has nothing in return, it's commensalim.

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                      -   Mutualism : Interaction between two species which get benefit from each other.

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Like the clownfish and the anemone. The clownfish lives under the protection of the anemone, and also protect it. The anemone would be fed by the fish.

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                      -   Amensalism : Interaction between two species in which one is inhibits the development of the other without taking any advantage.

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In this case we can talk about a tree who stop the growing of an other by filtering the light.

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                      -   Neutralism : Two species living on a same territory but have zero interactions between each other.

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An example who comes out a lot : the shrew and the deer inside the forest.

 

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                      -   Parasitism : A species uses an other at the expanse of it.

The example has to be the Cordyceps! A mushroom that i find fascinating. When its spores reach an insect, they developping inside it and take control of the body of the host. The parasited animal has to climb at a branch or something in spite of itself to die there, then the mushroom can now deploy its spores to find new preys.

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About the symbiosis, if i get it right, it's a kind of mutualism but with a closer relationship between the two species. When we speak about mutualism, both species get something from the each other, but it's not vital, if it's becoming vital, then we can talk of mutualistic symbiosis.

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The case of leaf-cutters ant or fungus-growing ants (genus Atta and Acromyrmex) would be a mutualistic symbiosis because the ants cannot live without the mushroom (wish is their main source of food), and the mushroom cannot develop itself without the nutritive substances bring by the ants, and their protection.

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Let's go back to our main subjects, the hissing cockroach and its mite!

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If you want to get hissing cockroaches, you know now that you'll have mites with it. But it has to be reasonnable ! If there is a lot of these inside and outside the terrarium or box, it's probably not the same species, and that would be a problem, you'll have to do something quickly.

The mite of the hissing cockroach (Androlealaps schaeferi), is ON the cockroaches, and there is never too much of them.

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At first with thought the mite was feeding of the cockroach itself, but actually it feeding of the "residues" of it and "share the meal" (commensalism), so it's not a pathogen mite.

 

Gromphadorhina portentosa is the species that often comes first when we speak of hissing cockroaches, but it's not the only species and nether the only genus that can hiss. Among the hissing cockroaches there is also Elliptorhina, Princisia et Aeluropoda, every species of these genus are from Madagascar, we cannot find them somewhere else.

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They do hiss, but how?

It's coming from the stigmata (or spiracles) which are pores used to the breathing in insects and some other arthropods, these holes are directly connected to the respiratory system. Air is accumulated in the trachea and then expelled by the stigmata, which causes noise. This blow should not be confused with the noise emitted by a cricket for example, this noise is generated by the friction of the elytra (hard wings that cover the hindwings used to fly; elytra do not participate in the flight, they act as protection in a way), and this sound is called stridulation.

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Males, females and old juveniles can make this sound, they do it for many reasons :

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                              1 : For defense

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                              2 : While mating

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                              3 : While males are fighting

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Indeed, the males fight, and they are equipped for! Their exoskeleton is provided with two horns on the prothorax as can be seen in the image below (in the company of two mites).