Conservation of Macau’s Wildlife
Macau. Officially, Macau Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, is a city and special administrative region of the People's Republic of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a population of about 680,000 and an area of 32.9 km2, it is the most densely populated region in the world, and is the city I have been living in for the past 12 years.
As mentioned before, having such as small area and so many residents (not mentioning that before COVID hit, Macau Tourism Industry hit a max annual visitor number of 39 million visitors in the end of December 2019), the impact of human activity on the remaining wildlife is enormous.
Macau remaining wildlife areas
As you can see, the largest remaining wildlife refuge is located on the South of Macau, in Coloane. All the remaining areas are more or less enclosed and surrounded by thick, heavily urbanized landscape.
As the city grows, the impact on the south forested area will only increase and the economical gains for those who have some decision power will surely make this area contract even more in the near future, leaving no alternative for the existing wildlife but to adapt to the existing conditions or perish.
“I don’t like dwarves. They are greedy and blind, blind to the lives of those they deem lesser than themselves...”
Quote from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Tolkien always used exaggerated humans characteristics to develop his Middle Earth races. Tolkien stated that he had been influenced by his childhood experiences of the English countryside of Worcestershire and its urbanization by the growth of Birmingham, and his personal experience of fighting in the trenches of the First World War. So he is actually talking about our species. It should be :
“I don’t like humans. We are greedy and blind, blind to the lives of those we deem lesser than ourselves...”
I think humans suffer from a quick generalization syndrome. Regarding everything else, but ourselves and what is familiar. In a world we didn’t understand, we had to make quick assumptions to be able to to survive.
But this is way of thinking isn’t necessary anymore in the present era, and what we are lacking at this moment is more awareness and better education regarding the world surrounding us.
Unknown Author
I don’t know who did this image, but I think its a great representation of how we should act regarding the natural world, in which we are just a small part of it.
And all this introduction bring us to today’s post, which is about roaches. In an attempt to change people’s idea of roaches, I will state that cockroaches are not dirty pests.
The cockroaches are an ancient group, with ancestors originating during the Carboniferous period, some 300-350 million years ago, and they are detritivores which obtain nutrients by consuming detritus (decomposing plant and animal parts). They occupy a wide range of habitats. Many live in leaf litter, among the stems of matted vegetation, in rotting wood, in holes in stumps, in cavities under bark, under log piles and among debris. Some live in arid regions, others are aquatic, some live in the forest canopy and about 30 cockroach species out of 4,600 are associated with human habitats (that is less than 1% of the total amount of the roach species).
And those 1% are only considered pests because they are the only ones capable of surviving on the new habitats human developed. The other 99% would die if left to their own devices inside our houses.
19th February 2019, in the top of A-Ma Cultural Village (媽祖文化村), on a cold and windy night, I found a species of roach nymph I had never seen before.
Megamareta female nymph (Ectobiidae Family, Pseudophyllodromiinae subFamily)
This is a Megamareta species, belonging to the Ectobiidae Family and the Pseudophyllodromiinae subFamily, they are most commonly known as wood roaches.
A special thank you to Mr. Shizuma Yanagisawa, who helped me to identify its genus. He runs a great Roach Website, called Gokiburiyasiki (The Cockroach Home). Although written in Japanese, its a great reference for any roach hobbyist.
Most Ectobiid species are small in size when compared to blaberids and many blattids. They are usually long-legged and very fast moving. The majority of Ectobiids are nocturnal but some are crepuscular and others are diurnal. Megamareta is clearly nocturnal.
The most brilliantly colored are in the subfamily Pseudophyllodromiinae.
Megamareta species is associated with certain types of plants and shrubs, where they take up residence. During the day these roaches rest deep in the natural pockets and junctions between the leaves, where they are protected from predators.
After dark, they emerge to feed on the leaf surfaces water droplets, bird droppings, etc.
They are considered a large Pseudophyllodromiinae species, with adults measuring between 10mm to 12mm. They are very pale light brown in color, with multiple spots covering their pronotum. Adults and nymphs have a trace of a dark marking at the base of the tegmen.
The dark marking at the base of the tegmen
“Notes on some cockroach species of the genera Megamareta and Onychostylus from Pacific area”
A week later after collecting the female nymph, she matured into full grown adult, and she even managed to recover her missing limb.
Megamareta Adult Female
Megamareta Adult Female
This was my first Ectobiid species and I was absolutely delighted to have a female! Now the plan was to find a male and start a new local roach breeding project.
And for that I knew exactly where to go for more information! The Invertebrate Dude Blog! Not long before he had made a post on how he kept his Ectobiids, which you can also read, if you click the link below.
Another online reference, particularly for Megamareta keeping and breeding which I found was this one below, again from Japan.
オガサワラウスヒラタゴキブリ
So I developed my own setup based on the information I had read.
Megamareta Rearing Enclosure
Look how well they blend in!!
Megamareta Adult Female Camouflage
Megamareta Male Nymph Camouflage
I have spent the last month going from time to time to the same location at night in search of more specimens, and in particular males.
And I can report that yesterday, 20th March 2021, I found two male nymphs! After one month long frustratingly just finding females LOL ! One should never complain!
So in total I now have 3 females (1 Adult, 1 Medium Size Nymph and 1 Small Size Nymph) and 2 males (1 Pre-Adult Nymph and 1 Small Size Nymph).
So I think now the project is well underway to be successful!
Before concluding, I just want to report that while trying to find males, the adult female start producing oothecas. She produced two so far. One was poorly formed and was discarded after formation. But the second one was good, and although should not be viable, she hid it in a very interesting place.
Megamareta ootheca
Megamareta ootheca
But now fingers crossed for some “real” oothecas and tons of babies!!
To conclude, I hope I can be able to breed these awesome looking wood roaches, guarantee their survival for the future, so that others can appreciate their beauty without having to remove them from their habitat like I did. Always the irony in life….
To use insects in expanding education, creating awareness as well providing entertainment to the younger generations, is one of my goals.
This species is still unidentified and it would be amazing if it was a new undescribed species for Macau! Let’s wait for more specimens from this small colony, so I can send them to some specialist for identification.
Hope you have enjoyed this week’s post! Thank you for taking the time to read and see you next week!
Cheers!