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Cockroach that jumps similar to a grasshopper found

A cockroach that jumps has been discovered in South Africa recently. A group of scientists found out that the jumping mechanisms of the cockroach resemble to that of a grasshopper with whom it shares its natural shrubland habitat. The leaping cockroach also has similar anatomical features to the other insect.

Called "leaproach", the said cockroach (Saltoblattella montistabularis) jumps up to 48 times the length of its body. According to one of its discoverers, Mike Picker of the University of Cape Town, hopping and jumping constitute 71 percent of the cockroach's locomotion.

The zoologist added that the leaproach's jumps are made possible by rapid and synchronous extension of its hind legs that are twice the length of the other legs and make up 10 per cent of its body weight.

"The large hind legs have grooved femora into which the tibiae engage fully in advance of a jump, and have resilin, an elastic protein, at the femoro-tibial joint. The extensor tibiae muscles contracted for 224 ms before the hind legs moved, indicating that energy must be stored and then released suddenly in a catapult action to propel a jump." Picker said.

So far, the jumping cockroach has been found only in a small patch of grassland in Table Mountain National Park in Cape Town. Researchers think it may have turned to leaping as the easiest way to navigate a habitat of long grass stems. 

Here's a slow motion footage of a female Saltoblattella montistabularis jumping:


Video courtesy of Mike Picker, Jonathan F. Colville and Malcolm Burrows.