Scientists discovered one of the strangest species of cockroaches ever known, with a very large helmet-shaped head and long legs.
Dr. Peter Vršanský and colleagues at the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava, Slovakia found a new species of cockroach in Tan Phu cave, located in a lava cave system several meters above ground in Dong Nai province, Vietnam. Description of the new cockroach species was published in the journal Zootaxa.
According to New Scientist, this cockroach does not eat bat feces like other cave cockroaches. Their food is bacteria and fungi. Scientists found fungal spores in their intestines.
Although they do not eat bat feces, this cockroach uses bats to move to new caves, which helps explain their appearance. “Morphologically, this seems to be the strangest cockroach we have ever known. It is very small, only 3mm long and has single refractive eyes,” Vršanský said.
A new species of cockroach looks like an alien creature in Dong Nai, Vietnam. (Photo: Slovak Academy of Sciences).
One of the most interesting features is the large helmet on its head that gives it a halo-like appearance when viewed from below. They are also different from other cockroaches in the hook-shaped part on the back and a “pincer” underneath.
These characteristics help male cockroaches mate with their mates, but they can also help them hook up with each other to ride bats into new caves. In terms of evolution, there is little evidence that only male cockroaches move to new caves, most likely they bring their partners with them.
On the back of the cockroach there are curved wings that are not used for flying but secrete a special “chemical” as a gift for the female cockroach. Many cockroach species use this tactic to attract females, but the new cockroach species is very different.
The lava tubes where this cockroach was discovered are geologically quite new, so the team believes that the creature evolved from a unique organism two million years ago.
