Cockroach That Jumps Called Leaproach Discovered (Video)
An unusual species of jumping cockroach, above, was discovered in South Africa's Table Mountain National Park by scientists from the University of Cape Town. Mike Picker/University of Cape Town/Associated PressA cockroach that can leap 50 body lengths in a single bound has been discovered in South Africa.
Mike Picker, a zoologist at the University of Cape Town, said he and his colleagues found the "leaproach" while hunting for fly larvae in the Table Mountain nature reserve.
"I noticed these very strange jumping animals, which I initially thought might be a type of grasshopper," he told CBC Radio's As It Happens. "But knowing the insects quite well, we soon realized what a spectacular find we had."
Picker and his colleagues described the new species, which was given the scientific name Saltoblattella montistabularis, in a recent issue of the journal Biology Letters. Huge hind legs and a unique way of storing energy are what allow the insect to make its spectacular jumps, they found.
The cockroach is so unusual, Picker said, that he and his colleagues initially "barely recognized the males as a cockroach." Its body looked so similar to that of a grasshopper.
However, it turns out the diminutive insect — which grows to be less than one centimetre long — is actually quite closely related to the German cockroach, the smaller of two cockroach species well known as household pests.
Mike Picker, a zoologist at the University of Cape Town, said he and his colleagues found the "leaproach" while hunting for fly larvae in the Table Mountain nature reserve.
"I noticed these very strange jumping animals, which I initially thought might be a type of grasshopper," he told CBC Radio's As It Happens. "But knowing the insects quite well, we soon realized what a spectacular find we had."
Picker and his colleagues described the new species, which was given the scientific name Saltoblattella montistabularis, in a recent issue of the journal Biology Letters. Huge hind legs and a unique way of storing energy are what allow the insect to make its spectacular jumps, they found.
The cockroach is so unusual, Picker said, that he and his colleagues initially "barely recognized the males as a cockroach." Its body looked so similar to that of a grasshopper.
However, it turns out the diminutive insect — which grows to be less than one centimetre long — is actually quite closely related to the German cockroach, the smaller of two cockroach species well known as household pests.
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