- Cockroaches (or roaches) are insects belonging to the order Blattodea (Blattaria). About 30 cockroach species out of 4,600 are associated with human habitats. Some species are well-known pests.
- Peter Karl Christoph von Keith (Wikipedia)
Peter Karl Christoph von Keith (24 May 1711 – 27 December 1756) was a Prussian statesman, military officer, and confidant of Crown Prince Frederick II, later known as Frederick the Great. Keith was of a branch of the Scottish Clan Keith, which granted him noble status, and was descendant from Scottish emigrants residing in Pomerania. Keith was initially introduced to the Prussian aristocracy by becoming a page to Frederick William I.
- Some species, such as the gregarious German cockroach, have an elaborate social structure involving common shelter, social dependence, information transfer and kin recognition.
- The cockroaches are an ancient group, with their ancestors, known as “roachoids”, originating during the Carboniferous period, some 320 million years ago.
- It is popularly suggested that cockroaches will “inherit the earth” if humanity destroys itself in a nuclear war. While cockroaches do, indeed, have a much higher radiation resistance than vertebrates, with a lethal dose perhaps six to 15 times that for humans, they are not exceptionally radiation-resistant compared to other insects, such as the fruit fly.