近日，南非开普敦大学的生物学家Mike Picker和同事日前在《生物学快报》网络版上发表的一研究成果"A cockroach that jumps"，称他们发现一种会跳高的蟑螂。
尽管被发现者起了个“跳螂”的绰号，但Saltoblattella montistabularis很可能是迄今为止发现的第一种不但会逃跑，而且能跳高的蟑螂。
蟑螂没有得到太多的尊重，然而随着在南非发现的一种新的蟑螂，这一情况或许将有所变化——这个家伙无论外表还是跳跃，都与蚱蜢非常相像。
修长且肌肉发达的后肢使“跳螂”的一蹦可以达到35公分的高度——这几乎是其体长的50倍。这同时也意味着它们打破了蝗虫的纪录，后者仅能达到20倍于自身体长的高度。
这一新物种同时还生有圆鼓鼓的眼睛，这在蟑螂中可谓独一无二，或许有助于它们在一次跳跃后选择正确的地点着陆。
迄今为止，生物学家仅仅在开普敦市平顶山国家公园的一小块草地中发现了这种“跳螂”。
研究人员认为，它可能把跳跃作为一种最简单的方式来通过生有长草茎的栖息地。（生物谷bioon.com）
doi:10.1098/rsbl.2011.1022
PMC:
PMID:
A cockroach that jumps
Mike Picker1,*, Jonathan F. Colville1,2 and Malcolm Burrows3
We report on a newly discovered cockroach (Saltoblattella montistabularis) from South Africa, which jumps and therefore differs from all other extant cockroaches that have a scuttling locomotion. In its natural shrubland habitat, jumping and hopping accounted for 71 per cent of locomotory activity. Jumps are powered by rapid and synchronous extension of the hind legs that are twice the length of the other legs and make up 10 per cent of the body weight. In high-speed images of the best jumps the body was accelerated in 10 ms to a take-off velocity of 2.1 m s−1 so that the cockroach experienced the equivalent of 23 times gravity while leaping a forward distance of 48 times its body length. Such jumps required 38 µJ of energy, a power output of 3.4 mW and exerted a ground reaction force through both hind legs of 4 mN. 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. Overall, the jumping mechanisms and anatomical features show remarkable convergence with those of grasshoppers with whom they share their habitat and which they rival in jumping performance.
