New York's lovely High
Line Park, ground zero for a monumental infestation
of cockroaches from Japan
- the periplaneta japonica. These
recent immigrants
to the Big Apple are more
resistant to cold than Periplaneta americana - which
has been in NY since the
1600s. Neither have been eliminated by recent cold.
Even 'Polar Vortex' is No Match for New York Cockroaches (Die Zeit, Germany)
"In the northeast U.S., it was even colder than the South
Pole. In New York, there was drop in temperature of nearly 30º - to 3º
Fahrenheit at the beginning of the week. So - was that too much for the
cockroaches? ... 'No,' says Dominic Evangelista, a doctoral candidate in biochemistry
at Rutgers University. ... Because they are so fast, the rate at which the
temperature drops doesn't really matter. Scientists have observed that
cockroaches need only a second to cover a distance of 1.6 yards. 'I’m sure they
have found a warmer location,' Evangelista says."
Luckily, while New York cockroaches are hardy creatures - they aren't really this big! And luckily for New York's army of exterminaters - the polar vortex has done little to diminish their numbers.
New
York is a city of immigrants, and the same is true of the animal residents of its
underground. Periplaneta americana, the American cockroach, only arrived in
the Big Apple at the end of the 17th century - by sea from Africa. Today there
are only two regions they have yet to conquer: the North and South Poles. The
reason: cold is the cockroaches' worst enemy. They can cope with anything else
- whether you rip their legs off, administer poison to them or subject them to
radiation.
Is
it possible that the 24-hour a day cold that recently gripped the northern United
States has finished off the otherwise hardy cockroach? In the northeast U.S.,
it was even colder than the South Pole. In New York there was drop in
temperature of nearly 30º - to 3º Fahrenheit at the beginning of the week. So -
was that too much for the cockroach?
"No,"
says Dominic Evangelista, a doctoral candidate in biochemistry at New Jersey's Rutgers
University. The cockroaches are likely to have survived the extremely icy
weather - even though they normally experience life-threatening paralysis when
temperatures drop to 4º above zero. “The insects are clever enough to get to
safety. In winter, animals change their behavior. The colder it is, the deeper
they hide,” says Evangelista.
Antifreeze in
their blood
With
their reasonably-flat bodies, cockroaches can crawl into the tiniest cracks.
They are particularly partial to subway tunnels, heating ducts and the basements
of homes, because such places provide damp air as well as heat. Because they
are so fast, the rate at which the temperature drops doesn't really matter. Scientists
have observed that cockroaches need only a second to cover a distance of 1.6 yards.
“I’m sure they have found a warmer location,” Evangelista says.
An
antifreeze has even been discovered in a species of cockroach endemic to Yamato
in Northern Japan - periplaneta japonica
- which protects the insects from freezing to death. Evangelista and his
colleague Jessica Ware have demonstrated for the first time that this species has
also likely reached New York. In their recently
published article in the Journal of
Economic Entomology, they write that the cockroaches likely reached New
York by way of imported flower pots. The habitat of the Yamato cockroach, Manhattan's
High Line Park,
is a mile-and-a-half long promenade of green that was planted on a former rail
platform. The insect was investigated by Lyle Buss of the Insect Identification
Lab at the University of Florida.
The
resistance to cold of the Yamato cockroach is extraordinary. In various
experiments, researchers have frozen and thawed the creatures, embedded them in
snow and left them there for days - and thanks to a
sugary fluid in their blood, the animals withstood temperatures up to -22 º.
“Our
Japanese colleagues have found that even in their juvenile stages, these cockroaches
can survive in snow,” Ware says.
Although
cockroaches can be found everywhere in New York, so far there has been little
research into their behavior. One could say that Ware, Buss, and Evangelista,
are cockroach research pioneers. Only in recent years have more researchers shown
an interest in the hard-to-control vermin.
Posted By Worldmeets.US
“Cockroaches
are fascinating from a genetic point of view because their DNA is so incredibly
diverse,” Evangelista says. “There are countless mutations that look really
cool.”
Competition from
Japan
The National
Cockroach Project at New York's The Rockefeller University is another participant
in the new research into cockroaches. This past summer, Americans were called
on to mail in American cockroaches - preferably dead, or to bring them in
person. With these specimens, a DNA database is being established.
Cockroaches
also appeal to Michael Scharf of Indiana's Purdue
University.
“They
are so tough and have such reproductive power,” he says.
It
isn't yet clear to what extent the better-adapted Yamato cockroach will compete
with New York's more native species. In Scharf's
view, the scuttling immigrants from Japan should definitely be observed
further.
“Though
an invasion is not yet in sight,” he notes, “that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t worry.”