A quantitative study of the susceptibility of cockroach species to Moniliformis moniliformis (Acanthocephala)

We exposed 19 species of cockroaches to Moniliformis moniliformis by administering shelled acanthors orally and by injecting hatched acanthors directly into the body cavity. The exposure method had little influence on susceptibility: with one exception, species that were susceptible to oral exposure were also susceptible to injected acanthors and, in no case, did acanthors develop in injected animals when they did not develop in orally exposed conspecifics. We found no support for the hypothesis that the intestine may be a barrier to M. moniliformis establishment in cockroaches. There is, however, clear interspecific variation in susceptibility to M. moniliformis infection.