Recently, a new type of cockroach was found in Singapore's wooded nature reserve. The species, which was named after Pheromosa, a Pokemon that resembles a cockroach and first appeared in the seventh generation of the video game franchise, was discovered by comparing variations in the male genitalia of specimens with those of its closest cousin from Borneo.
Nocticola pheromosa is a new species of cockroach for the area, and it belongs to the Nocticola family. Latin for "love of the night" is nocticola. Foo Maosheng and Cristian Caballes Lucaas, two entomologists, reported this discovery in the Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology.
Upon finding images of the animals on The Biodiversity of Singapore website, the study's primary author Lucas, an entomologist at the University of the Philippines Los Baos Museum of Natural History in the Philippines, contacted Foo for assistance and more details.
The delicate cockroach that we discovered and Pheromosa share some characteristics, including a long antenna, wings that resemble hoods, and long, thin legs, according to Foo.
Because my collaborator and I are both big admirers of Pokemon, we reasoned that it should be named after a Pokemon that was influenced by a cockroach.
When a few male individuals of the cockroach were discovered in a secondary woodland in the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve between 2016 and 2017, the species was unknown.
According to Foo, there were no official reports of the cockroach in Singapore. It does support the idea that this species has not been officially documented since its DNA did not match any species listed online.
Nocticola pheromosa, which is what most people imagine when they hear the term "cockroach," is more delicate than the American cockroach, claims Foo.
Lucaas conducted extensive study with Foo and came to the conclusion that the cockroach had never been scientifically documented and decided to share their findings.
The new species joins its genus' other 22 representatives, all of which are native to Australia or parts of Africa, India, mainland Asia, or Southeast Asia.
Source: SEA.ign.com
