Cape Town - The City celebrated World Wildlife Day this year on March 3 by sharing the discovery of a small jumping cockroach, known as the leaproach, at its Steenbras Nature Reserve – the first of its kind found in a nature reserve and the only roach with the ability to jump.
The peculiar creature, which is between 6mm and 20mm long with large hind legs that stick out of the sides of the body like a grasshopper, is able to jump distances up to 50 times its body length and was described as a mixture of a cockroach and a grasshopper that is endemic to the fynbos biome of Table Mountain.
The City’s head of conservation services discovered several leaproaches at the Steenbras Nature Reserve on Saturday, February 25.
They were first discovered in 2006 at the Silvermine Nature Reserve by Mike Picker and Jonathan Colville, both from the University of Cape Town at the time, who explained that leaproaches typically jump among plants, much like grasshoppers do.
Deputy mayor and spatial planning and environment Mayco member Eddie Andrews said: “The leaproach is a family member of the cockroach, but has developed the ability to jump.
“Featuring on the 2011 list of the World’s Top 10 new species, we are immensely proud to confirm that we have discovered that the leaproach is residing in the Steenbras Nature Reserve.
“Although they are known to be found in the Fynbos biome of Table Mountain National Park, we have not sighted them in our nature reserves before.”
Colville confirmed that while only one species has been formally described, they have found about a dozen undescribed species across the fynbos biome and noted that individuals from Steenbras look similar to specimens from the Ceres area.
Their goal is to formally describe these new species.
Andrews added that leaproaches, and all the other many species of cockroaches in the fynbos, may look odd, or even grisly, but they have the very important task of breaking down plant material and are completely harmless.
Colville said leaproaches had evolved wide protruding eyes to improve their vision; a second joint at the base of the antennae to help stabilise it during jumps; and highly modified limbs to facilitate the jumping motion.
With 1 million species currently under threat, World Wildlife Day this year was dedicated to those involved in conserving wildlife with the City using the day as a reminder that not all wildlife is big and furry, and that the less charismatic also deserve recognition.
Kirsten Schuijt, international director general of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), said the world faced the double emergencies of human-induced climate change and biodiversity loss, threatening the well-being of current and future generations.
“The only way to tackle these problems is by addressing these different elements holistically – through collective action,” Schuijt said.