The Jumping Cockroach

While cockroaches usually exhibit a scuttling form of locomotion, a new species, formally described last year, known as Saltoblatella montistabularis (see figure 1), jumps. Indeed, in its normal habitat, consisting out of shrubland in South Africa, jumping accounted for more than 70% of its locomotion. And it can jump quite well, experiencing up to 23g while it propels its body forward for a distance of up to 48 times its body length (7 - 9 mm). The body of the beast is accelerated to a take-off velocity of 2.1 m per second in 10ms (see video).   Figure 1: The jumping cockroach (left: male, right: female).(Source: Bohn et al., 2010)       read more

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