PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

After a 49-million-year hiatus, a cockroach reappears in North America

2014-01-06
(Press-News.org) Contact information: Dr. Conrad Labandeira
LABANDEC@si.edu
703-231-2756
Entomological Society of America
After a 49-million-year hiatus, a cockroach reappears in North America

The cockroach in the genus Ectobius is a major textbook example of an invasive organism, and it is the most common cockroach inhabiting a large region from northernmost Europe to southernmost Africa.

Ectobius has a long fossil history in Europe, occurring in Baltic amber that is about 44 million years old, and its lineage was believed to have been exclusively from the Old World. However, a shocking new discovery has uprooted that view. In fact, it now appears that Ectobius may have originated in the New World.

Four ancient Ectobius species were recently discovered in the 49-million-year-old Green River Formation near Rifle, Colorado in deposits that are about five million years older than the Baltic amber. However, these cockroaches soon became extinct in North America. The cause for the extinction of Ectobius in North America in the dim past is unknown, but it evidently survived in the Old World, and western Europe in particular.

"About 65 years ago, several entomologists in the northeastern United States noted that four species of Ectobius were present in North America," said corresponding author Dr. Conrad Labandeira. "It was always assumed that these four newcomers were the first Ectobius species to have ever lived in North America. But the discovery in Colorado proves that their relatives were here nearly 50 million years ago."

In many ways the history of Ectobius mirrors that of the biogeographic history of the horse. Horses occurred in the New World and became extinct during the late Pleistocene ecological crisis. Horses, attached to human habitation, were subsequently introduced to North America by early Spanish explorers about 11,000 years after their demise.

The newly discovered species of Ectobius, specifically Ectobius kohlsi, are described in the January 2014 issue of Annals of the Entomological Society of America (DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1603/AN13042) in an article called "Native Ectobius (Blattaria: Ectobiidae) From the Early Eocene Green River Formation of Colorado and Its Reintroduction to North America 49 Million Years Later."

This particular species is named after David Kohls, who lives near Rifle, Colorado and has been an indefatigable collector of fossil insects and plants from the nearby Green River Formation. His collection of approximately 150,000 insects from 31,000 slabs of shale now constitutes the Kohls Green River Fossil Insect Collection, which is housed in the Smithsonian's Department of Paleobiology.



INFORMATION:

Annals of the Entomological Society of America is published by the Entomological Society of America, the largest organization in the world serving the professional and scientific needs of entomologists and people in related disciplines. Founded in 1889, ESA today has more than 6,500 members affiliated with educational institutions, health agencies, private industry, and government. Members are researchers, teachers, extension service personnel, administrators, marketing representatives, research technicians, consultants, students, and hobbyists. For more information, visit http://www.entsoc.org.



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Mine landslide triggered quakes

2014-01-06
Mine landslide triggered quakes Record-breaking slide would bury Central Park 66 feet deep SALT LAKE CITY, Jan. 6, 2014 – Last year's gigantic landslide at a Utah copper mine probably was the biggest nonvolcanic slide in North America's modern history, and included two ...

Self-driving vehicles offer potential benefits, policy challenges for lawmakers

2014-01-06
Self-driving vehicles offer potential benefits, policy challenges for lawmakers Self-driving vehicles offer the promise of significant benefits to society, but raise several policy challenges, including the need to update insurance liability regulations and privacy concerns ...

Study: Half of black males, 40 percent of white males arrested by age 23

2014-01-06
Study: Half of black males, 40 percent of white males arrested by age 23 First contemporary findings on how the risk of arrest varies across race and gender Nearly half of black males and almost 40 percent of white males in the U.S. are arrested by age 23, ...

New study may aid rearing of stink bugs for biological control

2014-01-05
New study may aid rearing of stink bugs for biological control Many people think of stink bugs as pests, especially as the brown marmorated stink bugs spreads throughout the U.S. However, certain stink bugs are beneficial, such as Podisus nigrispinus ...

7 new species of nearctic wasps described and illustrated

2014-01-04
7 new species of nearctic wasps described and illustrated After studying specimens from the Nearctic deposited in the United States National Museum of Natural History and some specimens in the Canadian National Collection of Insects, researchers have found ...

Loss of function of a single gene linked to diabetes in mice

2014-01-04
Loss of function of a single gene linked to diabetes in mice Gene defect prevents insulin from ever reaching bloodstream Researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine have found that dysfunction in a single gene in mice causes ...

Severe mental illness tied to higher rates of substance use

2014-01-04
Severe mental illness tied to higher rates of substance use New NIH study shows that certain protective factors do not exist in those with severe mental illness People with severe mental illness such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder have a higher ...

UC research uncovers how ancient artists used palace floor as a creative canvas

2014-01-03
UC research uncovers how ancient artists used palace floor as a creative canvas The floors of Greek Bronze Age palaces were made of plaster that was often incised and painted with grids containing brightly colored patterns and/or marine animal figures. In researching ...

Amber fossil reveals ancient reproduction in flowering plants

2014-01-03
Amber fossil reveals ancient reproduction in flowering plants CORVALLIS, Ore. – A 100-million-year old piece of amber has been discovered which reveals the oldest evidence of sexual reproduction in a flowering plant – a cluster of 18 tiny flowers ...

ADC evaluation for the changes of infarction core and remote regions after MCAO

2014-01-03
ADC evaluation for the changes of infarction core and remote regions after MCAO Supratentorial cerebral infarction can cause functional inhibition of remote regions such as the cerebellum, which may be relevant to diaschisis. This phenomenon is often analyzed ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

​​​​​​​The Lancet: Plastic pollution is an underrecognised threat to health, experts warn as they launch a project to track plastics’ health impacts and monitor progress

The Lancet Countdown on Health and Plastics to track impact of plastic production and pollution on human health

Announcing The Lancet Countdown on Health and Plastics

Study unexpectedly finds living in rural, rather than urban environments in first five years of life could be a risk factor for developing type 1 diabetes

Editorial urges deeper focus on heart-lung interactions in pulmonary vascular disease

Five University of Tennessee faculty receive Fulbright Awards

5 advances to protect water sources, availability

OU Scholar awarded Fulbright for Soviet cinema research

Brain might become target of new type 1 diabetes treatments

‘Shore Wars:’ New research aims to resolve coastal conflict between oysters and mangroves, aiding restoration efforts

Why do symptoms linger in some people after an infection? A conversation on post-acute infection syndromes

Study reveals hidden drivers of asthma flare-ups in children

Physicists decode mysterious membrane behavior

New insights about brain receptor may pave way for next-gen mental health drugs

Melanoma ‘sat-nav’ discovery could help curb metastasis

When immune commanders misfire: new insights into rheumatoid arthritis inflammation

SFU researchers develop a new tool that brings blender-like lighting control to any photograph

Pups in tow, Yellowstone-area wolves trek long distances to stay near prey

AI breakthrough unlocks 'new' materials to replace lithium-ion batteries

Making molecules make sense: A regional explanation method reveals structure–property relationships

Partisan hostility, not just policy, drives U.S. protests

The Journal of Nuclear Medicine Ahead-of-Print Tip Sheet: August 1, 2025

Young human blood serum factors show potential to rejuvenate skin through bone marrow

Large language models reshape the future of task planning

Narrower coverage of MS drugs tied to higher relapse risk

Researchers harness AI-powered protein design to enhance T-cell based immunotherapies

Smartphone engagement during school hours among US youths

Online reviews of health care facilities

MS may begin far earlier than previously thought

New AI tool learns to read medical images with far less data

[Press-News.org] After a 49-million-year hiatus, a cockroach reappears in North America