Lucihormetica Luckae
Lucihormetica luckae is a species of giant cockroach, The Blaberidae Family . The species may be threatened, or even extinct, as only one specimen has ever been collected, 70 years ago. In addition the southern american volcano -tungurahua , that served as the species' habitat, erupted in 1999.
Lucihormetica luckae's back carapace features two large and one small spots inhabited by bacteria that glow when exposed to fluorescent light. The evolutionary purpose of this biolumenscence is to mimic the appearance of the toxic click beetle (pyrophorus) that emits light at the same wave length. This makes it likely that Luihormetica Luckae is the first known species to use bioluminescence for defensive mimicry.
SCIENTIFIC CLASSIFICATION:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Blattodea
Family: Blaberidae
Subfamily: Blaberinae
Genus: Lucihormetica
Species: L.Luckae
Lucihormetica luckae's back carapace features two large and one small spots inhabited by bacteria that glow when exposed to fluorescent light. The evolutionary purpose of this biolumenscence is to mimic the appearance of the toxic click beetle (pyrophorus) that emits light at the same wave length. This makes it likely that Luihormetica Luckae is the first known species to use bioluminescence for defensive mimicry.
SCIENTIFIC CLASSIFICATION:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Blattodea
Family: Blaberidae
Subfamily: Blaberinae
Genus: Lucihormetica
Species: L.Luckae
