Cockroach that jumps 48 times its body length discovered in South Africa (Video)

Cockroach that jumps up to 48x its body length found

A species of cockroach that jumps has been discovered in South Africa recently. While cockroaches usually exhibit a scuttling form of locomotion, the said cockroach leaps with the agility and strength of a grasshopper. Nicknamed "leaproach" by its discoverers, the cockroach (Saltoblattella montistabularis) can jump up to 48 times its body length.

In a Biology Letters article, Mike Picker of the University of Cape Town said hopping and jumping account for 71 percent of the locomotory activities of the cockroach in its natural shrubland habitat.

"Jumps are powered by rapid and synchronous extension of the hind legs that are twice the length of the other legs and make up 10 per cent of the body weight," he wrote.

"The large hind legs have grooved femora into which the tibiae engage fully in advance of a jump, and have resilin, an elastic protein, at the femoro-tibial joint. The extensor tibiae muscles contracted for 224 ms before the hind legs moved, indicating that energy must be stored and then released suddenly in a catapult action to propel a jump. Overall, the jumping mechanisms and anatomical features show remarkable convergence with those of grasshoppers with whom they share their habitat and which they rival in jumping performance." he added.

Check out below a video which shows a jump by a female Saltoblattella montistabularis captured at 2000 images s-1 and with an exposure time of 0.1 ms. The replay rate is set at 10 images s-1.



Video courtesy of courtesy of Malcolm Burrows & Mike Picker