Cockroach species, At a Singaporean nature reserve with forests, a new species of cockroach has been discovered.
The species, which bears the name Pheromosa after a Pokemon that resembles a cockroach and appears in the seventh generation of the video game series, was discovered by comparing variations in the male genitalia of samples with those of its nearest relative from Borneo, among other checks.
“There are certain parallels between Pheromosa and the delicate cockroach that we observed, such as having a long antenna, wings that simulate a hood, and long slender legs,” said entomologist Foo Maosheng, who co-authored the study.
We decided to call it after a Pokemon that was influenced by a cockroach because both my collaborator and I are big fans of the video game.
Entomology is the study of insects and how they interact with other species, people, and the environment.
The identification of Nocticola pheromosa, which was made on February 27 and was published in the Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology, marks the first time a cockroach from the genus Nocticola, which in Latin means “love of the night,” has been identified in this region.
Cockroach and termite studies are extremely rare, in part because they lack the charisma of bees, butterflies, and beetles, according to Mr. Foo, a scientific officer at the National University of Singapore (NUS) Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum.
When a few male individuals were found in a secondary forest in the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve between 2016 and 2017 as part of an insect survey, the species of the cockroach was unknown.
The cockroach wasn’t mentioned in Singapore’s official records, according to Mr. Foo. “The fact that its DNA did not match any species listed online does add to the assumption that this species had not been formally reported,” the study’s authors write.
When Mr. Cristian C. Lucanas, the primary author of the study and an entomologist from the UPLB Museum of Natural History in the Philippines, came across images of the species on The Biodiversity of Singapore’s website, he contacted Mr. Foo for assistance.
