Good article. Here are some highlights.
4,500 species of cockroaches.
The German cockroach is the dominant species.
Scientists examined DNA from 281 German cockroaches from 17 countries to study their genetic differences.
DNA ... data confirmed that B. germanica evolved from the Asian cockroach, somewhere in India or Myanmar around 2,100 years ago as human settlements bloomed. Some Asian cockroaches lived near human settlements or plantations, and they probably switched to eating crops planted by humans.... Then, because human dwellings had similar food sources, they moved indoors and eventually became household pests.
The insects moved westward in two waves. They first hitched rides in soldiers’ bread baskets to the Middle East 1,200 years ago — much earlier than previously thought....
They reached Europe, where they would get their name, only 270 years ago, probably aboard European colonial ships.
Global trade in the 19th and 20th centuries allowed the scavengers to infiltrate most of the world’s nooks and crannies, and indoor plumbing and heating enticed them to stay.
The German cockroach has genes for many receptors for smell and a high number of proteins to help them resist toxic substances. Those are most likely the genes that make them so cunning at sensing new food sources and quickly developing resistance to insecticides.
“They have a very high number of genes, so they have a high, high potential for adaptation....”
4,500 species of cockroaches.
The German cockroach is the dominant species.
Scientists examined DNA from 281 German cockroaches from 17 countries to study their genetic differences.
DNA ... data confirmed that B. germanica evolved from the Asian cockroach, somewhere in India or Myanmar around 2,100 years ago as human settlements bloomed. Some Asian cockroaches lived near human settlements or plantations, and they probably switched to eating crops planted by humans.... Then, because human dwellings had similar food sources, they moved indoors and eventually became household pests.
The insects moved westward in two waves. They first hitched rides in soldiers’ bread baskets to the Middle East 1,200 years ago — much earlier than previously thought....
They reached Europe, where they would get their name, only 270 years ago, probably aboard European colonial ships.
Global trade in the 19th and 20th centuries allowed the scavengers to infiltrate most of the world’s nooks and crannies, and indoor plumbing and heating enticed them to stay.
The German cockroach has genes for many receptors for smell and a high number of proteins to help them resist toxic substances. Those are most likely the genes that make them so cunning at sensing new food sources and quickly developing resistance to insecticides.
“They have a very high number of genes, so they have a high, high potential for adaptation....”
