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Volcano May Have Killed Off New Bioluminescent Cockroach
terrancem writes "A newly discovered light-producing cockroach, Lucihormetica luckae, may have already been driven to extinction by a volcanic eruption in Ecuador. The species, only formally described by scientists this year, hasn't been spotted since the Tungurahua Volcano erupted in July 2010. The new species was notable because it represented the only known case of mimicry by bioluminescence in a land animal. Like a venomless king snake beating its tail to copy the unmistakable warning of a rattlesnake, Lucihormetica luckae's bioluminescent patterns are nearly identical to the poisonous click beetle, with which it shares (or shared) its habitat."
could be killed off by a puny volcano!
Set your phasers on "funky"!
I thought there were certain species of fireflies that mimicked the patterns of other sub-species to lure unsuspecting victim fireflies to eat. Is there some special reason this doesn't count?
These glowing cockroaches have been seen all over Fukushima Prefecture as of late.
I think that was a 70s Japanese sci-fi movie too
They were doomed to failure, anyway.
Their own lights kept scaring them under the refrigerator 24/7!
-- You are in a maze of little, twisty passages, all different... --
one of those volcanoes anyway?
Why would a creature evolve to copy the rattlesnake's warning if nothing could mistake it for the real thing.
See, those volcanos have no respect for the environment just belching their CO2 all the time...now they've made something extinct
SOMETHING MUST BE DONE
Al Gore...where are you?
is so awesome!
Fastest extinction ever
A "new" species has an evolutionary history as long as any other species alive today. It hasn't "already" gone extinct. We just weren't aware of it. Or perhaps it was just scientists who weren't aware of it, humans live there.
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see there was an obvious use for this species we're not going to get now.
We could have imported this roach and turned it lose in the US. I know what you're thinking, last thing we need is ANOTHER type of roach in the US. Well, should these things inter-breed with native roaches and spread their glowing genes they would more easily be detected in the dark making their light the glowing beacon that attracts their own demise.
I foresee a day when we will have roach hunting nano bots fueled by the very roaches they kill. Bioluminescence would have been just one more factor these bots, birds, bats, and the occasional shoe could have used to help hunt these creatures once their gene pool was poisoned by a virtual laser painting.
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Oh, it's dead :(
Seriously: It's discovery seems like a break-through and no one thought about catching a few alive ones to study them in a laboratory?
I mean, "Oh, shiny! Let's catch a few!" is so obvious...
That's all I've got.
You mean extinctions are caused by other things than man? Shhhh! Don't tell the environmentalists! I'm sure they'll find a way to make us feel guilty for creating that volcano.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
It's a Zerg landing strip marker. The preparations for invasion are almost complete, and will only be delayed slightly by this successful defensive maneuver.
I was going to say they could have used these cockroaches in NYC when Hurricane Sandy hit, and the lights went out. Of course on the west coast, an emergency roach is something else entirely.
-- I ignore anonymous replies to my comments and postings.
In other news, Fukushima Daiichi has created a new species of bio-luminescent cockroach...
To Copy from One is Plagiarism; To Copy from Many is Research.
Some female fireflies mimic the flash patterns of other species to lure in and prey on the males.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly
Create volcano in my home...
I don't think King Snakes have rattlers....They are known for imitation but I think instead it is visual. http://www.petmd.com/sites/default/files/coral_snake_0.gif
...in god's eye. What happens when you don't expand your habitat range fast enough.
It was just another of their bioluminescent mimcry tricks. They swarmed to create the illusion of a volcano to scare away the humans so they could pull away undetected and hide in obscurity, increasing their numbers until the time comes for them to attack.
One more reason to move ahead with global warming and destroy this planet before it gets the better of us.
First of all if its a cockroach then it breeds like crazy and hard to kill. But if its been around long enough to the evolve the ability to mimic then I highly doubt it will just suddenly be completely extinct by a volcano of all things. And not to mention if we have been around for this long and just now found it this year then surely there are more that we havent found yet..
Perhaps they should have evolved some sort of force field instead.
I heard a luminary with profoundly huge self-importance just turned off the lights and left.
The EPA is desperately searching for someone to fine/sue or get an injunction of some kind for this.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
...the roaches just found a better predator to emulate... ...us....
Precisely, instead of a Glow In The Dark super power, they should have gone for Immunity To Fire. Cockroach Fail, methinks. ;-)
--Udo.
Yeah, you cockroach supporters you heard me.
B-b-b-but globalwarmingclimatechange must be blamed!
Burke: Look, this is an emotional moment for all of us, okay? I know that. But, let's not make snap judgments, please. This is clearly-clearly an important species we're dealing with and I don't think that you or I, or anybody, has the right to arbitrarily exterminate them.
Ripley: Wrong!
Vasquez: Yeah. Watch us.
Hudson: Hey man, maybe you havent been keeping up with current events, but we just got our ASS'S KICKED PAL!
Having dealt with a german roach infestation at a duplex due to one nasty neighbor, I can safely say its the one creature on this planet right behind mosquitoes I truly wish wiped out....does that make me a bad person? : p
The last thing we need is more roaches.
This is not the only known case of mimicry by bioluminescence of a land animal, unless fireflies don't count (being that all of the insects in question can fly, they'd better count!). Pennsylvania's state insect is a tricky one, indeed: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photuris_pennsylvanica
It will duplicate the mating blinks of other species of firefly, and consume the attracted "suitors"!
Tungurahua is beautiful but not stable, the bioluminescent cockroach must have survived more eruptions than anyone can count. I bet it will survive the blast of this size too. I also bet that there are subspecies that live in a different hight, becasue Ecuador is famous for insane diversity of species. Birds can have 40 different colors in the same spot in Ecuador. Cockroaches are far more common than birds. By math alone, the cockroach must have survived.
~ Best man at your service.
America must invade Ecuador in order to save this invaluable species.
They will, of course, need to change Ecuador's extradition laws so that the perpetrators of this volcano-based atrocity can be brought to justice, no matter what embassy they may try to escape to.
Clearly, our heroic political saviors need to draft some sort of legislation making it unlawful for the earth's crustal protuberances to erupt. Abracadabra!
"Cockroach" and "driven to extinction" in the same sentence. Wow.
...everyone knows that the extermination of a species is only caused by human generated global warming – typically from the activities of people residing on the North American continent. So the story is obviously false.