Researchers at Rutgers University in New Jersey have
identified the resilient pest as Periplaneta japonica, which is
native to Japan. Until an exterminator saw the bug last year
crawling around the High Line, an elevated, outdoor park in
lower Manhattan, it had not been confirmed in the United States.
While it was too soon to predict the implications for nearby
residents and businesses, the bug's appearance could be good
news, researchers said.
"(Cockroaches) combined numbers inside buildings could actually
fall because (the) more time and energy they spent competing
(for food and space) means less time and energy to devote to
reproduction," said Rutgers biologist Dominic Evangelista, who
helped identify the species by analyzing its DNA barcode.
How the bugs got to New York was unclear, but researchers
speculated they were in the soil of one of the plants festooning
the park.
Researchers noted the new roach cannot breed a hybrid
super-roach by mating with the more common local variety due to
mismatching genitalia.
(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in New York;
editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
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