Asymmetry of Antennal Grooming in the Cockroach Periplaneta Americana

Abstract

This study aimed to identify the main quantitative characteristics of antennal grooming in healthy American cockroaches. The experiments reported here provide the fi rst evidence that on average, cockroaches cleaned the right antenna significantly more frequently than the left, indicating that healthy insects have functional asymmetry in relation to antennal grooming. At the same time, studies of grooming of the right and left basal segments of the antennae, and also the legs, showed that there were no significant differences in the number of cleaning acts. We suggest that the cause of the antennal grooming asymmetry is morphological asymmetry of the antennae and limbs and, perhaps, functional asymmetry of the brain.