The last thing New Yorkers need is another breed of cockroach running around; but the High Line may have recieved with some unwanted visitors.
This species of cockroach can withstand freezing temperatures unlike common N.Y roaches, and has never been seen before in the U.S., a Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences news release reported.
The insect species, called Periplaneta japonica, is not unusual in Asia; and researchers have performed numerous tests on them so see how they handle varied temperatures.
"About 20 years ago colleagues of ours in Japan reared nymphs of this species and measured their tolerance to being able to survive in snow," Rutgers insect biologist Jessica Ware, an assistant professor of biological sciences at Rutgers-Newark, said in the news release. "As the species has invaded Korea and China, there has been some confirmation that it does very well in cold climates, so it is very conceivable that it could live outdoors during winter in New York. That is in addition to its being well suited to live indoors alongside the species that already are here."
The species was first spotted on the High Line (a Lower Manhattan park and walkway built on old elevated subway tracks) by an exterminator back in 2012. The exterminator thought the creepy-crawler looked different than the usual N.Y roach, so he sent samples to a University of Florida lab for analysis. The roach was confirmed to be a member of the Asian species.
"I could imagine japonica being outside and walking around," Ware said, "though I don't know how well it would do in dirty New York snow. The Asian researchers tested driven snow."
There is little chance the Asian roaches could breed with the N.Y species because their genitalia are not believed to be compatible.
"The male and female genitalia fit together like a lock and key and that differs by species," Rutgers insect biologist Dominic Evangelista, said. "So we assume that one won't fit the other."
The Asian roaches have not yet been spotted in N.J., but "they do very well as hitchhikers," Ware said.
