Slashdot Mirror
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?
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... --
I think that was a 70s Japanese sci-fi movie too
Mothra?
Why would a creature evolve to copy the rattlesnake's warning if nothing could mistake it for the real thing.
Lady rattlers?
Comment removed based on user account deletion
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.
The preceding post was not a Slashvertisement.
Oh, it's dead :(
That depends, theoretically it's possible that a new species was stillborn.
When the world is ready : Laser cockroaches. The old ones died of inchoerence.
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...
Why would a creature evolve to copy the rattlesnake's warning if nothing could mistake it for the real thing.
Because things do mistake it for the real thing? In terms of energy(and evolution is nothing if not the battle for energy, and of course, becoming energy) poison production is pretty expensive. Thats why a rattlesnake prefers to rattle, and will only bite either to kill prey or when it thinks it has no other way of defending itself, thus it evolved the rattle in addition to it's venom. Shaking its tail a few times is a hell of lot cheaper than biting(not to mention it takes time for the poison to replenish).
However mimics have found an even more efficient way to scare away potential predators, keep the scare tactics but ditch the poison production. Best of both worlds!
Monstar L
You are already too late. Humans causing volcano erruptions
At the Pacific Ring of Fire. Sadly, they don't do home deliveries, you have to pick up them yourself.
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.
For that matter, if the cockroach engages in biomimicry, isn't it possible that people are simply not noticing it because of it's similarities to it's poisonous cousin?
Nature kind of happens, the fact is we don't always notice.
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...
Further, I think in the case of snakes, it's not really mimicry. Many many species of snakes shake their tails when annoyed. Rattlesnakes are a genus that evolved an especially novel modification to an established behavior.
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.
Off course we could blame Bush...He created Hurricane Katrina.
It was aimed somewhere else?
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.
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.
Precisely, instead of a Glow In The Dark super power, they should have gone for Immunity To Fire. Cockroach Fail, methinks. ;-)
--Udo.
Parent was referring to the summary's use of the word "unmistakable". Also, the noise that the king snake makes in dry leaves is almost identical to the sound of the rattlesnake. If it doesn't have dry leaves it's just tail shaking, but in the leaves where it normally lives it's quite efficient mimicry.
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
Yeah, you cockroach supporters you heard me.
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.
It was a joke.
Like a venomless king snake beating its tail to copy the unmistakable warning of a rattlesnake[...]
It's unmistakable, yet copyable. Does not compute.
What?
...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.