New York City invaded by new SUPER cockroach that can survive an entire winter outside

Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood is home to art galleries, fashion stores, townhouses and now a new breed of cockroach that won’t die even if forced to live outside all winter. The High Line, a park that turned a dilapidated stretch of elevated railway in the neighborhood into one of New York’s newest tourist attractions, may have been responsible for bringing a new breed of cockroach to the city. Rutgers University insect biologists Jessica Ware [SEBS Ph.D. ’08] and Dominic Evangelista said the species Periplaneta japonica is well documented in Asia but was never confirmed in the United States until now. The scientists, whose findings were published in the Journal of Economic Entomology, say that it is too soon to predict the impact but that there is probably little cause for concern.