peninsula, suggesting the trait was relatively recently acquired. Gestation and birth Reproduction is usually ovoviviparous, the ootheca carried internally during gestation until nymphs hatch within the body and are delivered, usually at night or in darkness. Occasionally stress or other factors may result in premature release of the ootheca, which can result in non-viability of the eggs. The ootheca itself measures 9x3.5x2.5 mm, housing 30-36 eggs in two rows of alternately spaced segments. Remains of the egg case are expelled around the time the nymphs are being born, sometimes pulled out with the hind limbs, and the ootheca fragments are usually quickly devoured by the newborn nymphs. Parasite Host P. surinamensis acts as the intermediate host for the parasitic roundworms Oxyspirura mansoni and Oxyspirura parvorum, which infect the eyes of poultry. O. mansoni, known as the chicken eyeworm among other names, can cause eye problems ranging from mild conjunctivitis to severe ophthalmia and serious vision impairment in its final hosts, which include chickens, turkeys, guineafowl and peafowl. Its life cycle involves eggs passing through a bird's lachrymal duct, being swallowed and passed in the bird's feces, a P. surinamensis cockroach eating the feces, larvae emerging in the cockroach, the bird eating the cockroach, and finally the eye worm larvae migrating up the oesophagus and pharynx to the bird's eye. While O. mansoni is not present in Europe, it is present in many areas of the world, particularly the tropical and subtropical environments where P. surinamensis is permanently established. References External links Black and white photographs of top view of P. surinamensis adult male, two adult females, and one nymph, from Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections. Drawing of P. surinamensis dorsal view of female specimen, plate VIII, figure 1. From a 1917 article by Morgan Hebard, with a key to the figures on pages 281. Cockroaches Insects described in 1758 Cosmopolitan arthropods Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus