Let’s start with a joke. Three pseudomops septentrionalis walk into a bar. Patrons run out screaming.
As if we didn’t already have enough cockroaches in South Florida, there’s a new beast in town that we can’t pronounce and can’t even spell!
Our roster of invasive species is tops in the country. Yeah, we’re number one in so many dubious categories we might as well be Congress. Have we all calmed down from the python scare in the Everglades? Those top predators, although not un-friendly to humans, have been relegated to the back pages that is, until the next poodle meets an inglorious end.
Even the occasional disquieting glimpse of ‘so called’ Real Housewives as we flip the channel don’t replace disturbing images of slithering serpents crawling up into our toilets waiting to snap at us in the middle of the night. (That’s right: worse than the fear of public speaking)
Environmental scientist Marc Minno spotted an interesting-looking bug. Upon further inspection, he realized this was no beetle. It was a cockroach. Is South Florida the largest ‘roach motel’ on the planet? Why don’t we have a ‘Do Not Enter’ sign at the State line with extra-large letters so the vermin can read it easily. It’s not too difficult for them to make an about face and wind up in Alabama.
“It was black and orange red, with yellow along the margins of the wings,” he says. “It was actually pretty and very distinctive. I wanted to enter it into the ‘Best Looking Bug’ contest, but too many Tallahassee legislators have the title already.”
Minno learned that he’d spotted a pale-bordered field cockroach, so he contacted the Florida State Collection of Arthropods (FSCA) in Gainesville, which confirmed the roach species had never before been seen in Florida. I know we’ve closed off some borders, but these creatures slither under any bulwarks we’ve created.
From giant African land snails to Argentine tegu lizards and Brazilian pepper trees, Florida is a notorious magnet for species from all over the world. Many of these species are invasive, threatening marine, freshwater, and land habitats. Some of them arrive by plane, boat and highway from States all along the East coast. Some are relatives!
According to the group Nature Conservancy, the cost of managing Florida’s invasive plants alone is estimated at $100 million each year. Can we make ‘Yard of the Month’ with invasive species? I doubt it!
The pale-bordered field cockroach is an outdoor species, dwelling amid vegetation such as leaves and shrubs. There’s no indication thus far that the roach could cause serious harm in South Florida, yet Minno says it’s important that we learn about the species to understand how loudly an average person can scream when they see one.
Though the roach was spotted in North Florida, Minno assumes it has made, or will make, its way south because of breeding patterns and prior sightings of the bug. It will also follow the crumbs dropped by careless tourists all along I-95 and the Turnpike.
If cockroaches aren’t your thing, rest assured; according to various sources, the pale-bordered field cockroach rarely enters homes, but if it knocks, don’t answer your door.
