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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"!
They were doomed to failure, anyway.
Their own lights kept scaring them under the refrigerator 24/7!
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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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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.
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?
Fireflies aren't a land animal.
A mighty seagoing beastie they be!
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.
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Perhaps they should have evolved some sort of force field instead.