A thin sliver of light from Cristian Lucanas’ headlamp cuts through the darkness of the Philippine rainforest as the scientist digs through the undergrowth to Carefully pick up a cockroach.
As the Southeast Asian country’s only expert on this often misunderstood insect, and the discoverer of 15 species, his friends nickname him «Lord of Ipis,» after the local name for the creature that abounds everywhere.
Although he is fully aware that most consider cockroaches to be disgusting and disease-carrying pests, the 31-year-old entomologist from the University of the Philippines says they deserve more study (and recognition) for their key role.
«I also hated cockroaches when I was a kid,» Lucanas says with a smile in the university town of Los Baños, south of Manila.
«The fear of cockroaches is innate,» he admits, adding that he usually tells people when they ask him about his occupation that he works «in a museum.»
His girlfriend, also an entomologist, is more understanding, although her studies focus on insects less hated than cockroaches, of which more than 4,600 species are known.
«It is possible that the real total is double or even triple,» says Lucanas, unable to hide his enthusiasm.
«No one studied them»
«For a long time, no one studied them,» he says, calling it «sad» given the size and variety of the local cockroach population.
The Philippines, with its enormous biodiversity, It has about 130 known speciesthree quarters of which are found nowhere else on the planet.
«Due to their enormous role in the ecosystem, their processes would be hampered if they disappeared,» warns the soft-spoken scientist.
Like dung beetles and earthworms, cockroaches are detritivoresThat is, they are designed to eat and decompose dead organic matter, including that of their own species, and return it to the soil.
Although some species of cockroaches carry microbes that spread diseases, a world without them would slow down the decomposition process, crucial for the maintenance of ecosystems, according to him.
Birds and spiders would lose a fundamental food sourceand plants would absorb less carbon dioxide, which could contribute to global warming.
Inspired by Tolkien
Still, Lucanas keeps a can of insecticide on hand at work, ready to kill any live cockroaches that might see the museum’s 250,000 species of insects preserved as a possible snack.
Lucanas’ obsession began 12 years ago, during a trip to a bat cave on a remote island, whose floor was infested with guano-eating cockroaches.
When his biology class assistant couldn’t identify the species, the young man knew he had found his niche.
Grandfather of the JRR TolkienLucanas usually names his discoveries after creatures from the author’s «Lord of the Rings» trilogy: «Valar», «Hobbitoblatta» or «Nazgul».
Given the uniqueness of his specialty, the young scientist also finds himself in great demand, even if it is for very specific situations.
The largest insecticide company in the country once invited him to give a lecture to its staff on cockroach identification.
The major restaurant chain also sought his advice, desperate to stop the incursions into its dining room by so-called German cockroaches, an invasive species from India.
«Control is not really my strong suit,» Lucanas admits. But cockroaches are far from the indestructible creatures they are often described as, he insists.
It is not true, for example, that cockroaches will inherit the Earth after a nuclear warhe says, noting that their resistance to radioactive exposure is similar to that of other insects.
Humans, not bombs, pose a more immediate threat to these particular critters, he says.
AFP Agency.
GML
