Study on the life cycle of cryptocercus punctulatus / Nurfarah Dilla Mohd Asri

Cryptocercus punctulatus species life cycle is hemimetabolous which mean that the species undergo several developmental stages starting from ootheca, to 4 nymphal stage and finally to adult without involving the pupa stage. The aim of this study is to identify the duration of each life cycle stage by stage according to the climate. From the observations, the life cycle starts when ootheca inside adult female’s body was hatched and there were 25 of first stage nymphs with size of 0.3 cm discovered. The duration for first stage nymph to develop into second stage nymph was 15 days. Second stage nymph has the size of 0.7 cm and the duration for it to develop into third stage nymph was 20 days. The third stage nymph reached the size of 0.8 cm and it took 40 days for it to reach to the fourth stage nymph with the size of 1.2 cm. Finally, the fourth stage nymph developed into adult in 26 days with the size of 1.7 cm. In conclusion, it can be proposed that the life cycle in warmer climate is shorter than in cooler climate as the cold climate can delay the nymphal development and thus affecting the evolution of the life history of this species.