MSU student’s vacation leads to novel insect discovery
Print
EmailMSU PhD student Junkai Wang and Entomology professor Anthony Cognato team up to describe new cockroach species Nocticola vagus
EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State University Doctoral student Junkai Wang always knew he wanted to work with insects.
“I’ve always liked bugs,” said the first-year PhD student. “I’ve liked bugs since before I can remember. So, if people ask me why I like bugs, I have no good answer for it. As far back as I can go in my memory, I’ve liked bugs.”
As a sophomore in high school at Cranbrook, located in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, Wang decided he wanted to pursue his interest in insects as a career.
“I emailed a bunch of professors that I didn't know, saying, ‘Hey, if anybody would like some free work from a high schooler with no experience on any type of research, I would love to learn.”
Michigan State University Entomology professor Anthony Cognato provided the opportunity, and Wang spent three summers working in the Cognato Lab on species detection and eradication projects.
As an undergraduate student at The University of Michigan, Wang continued his collaboration and contributions to the Cognato Lab. When he graduated from Michigan with degrees in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Art and Design, he knew he wanted to pursue an Entomology doctoral degree in East Lansing.
Over the past 20 years, Dr. Anthony Cognato has developed an international research program in insect systematics and collection stewardship. His program supports the education and research goals of graduate and undergraduate students and advances in the study of bark beetle. As director, he has been pivotal in the revitalization of the A.J. Cook Arthropod Research Collection.
One aspect of their work that Cognato and Wang particularly enjoy is species identification and discovery.
“I spend a lot of my free time looking for bugs,” Wang said.
Recently, the two teamed up to discover, identify and describe a novel cockroach species. The discovery started with Wang going to Florida on vacation and doing what he loves.
“(Co-author) Alan Jeon and I were planning a trip to Florida just to try to catch random bugs, and we were looking at the App iNaturalist on our phones to see what was in the area to catch. There was this random, unidentified cockroach reported from a neighborhood, So, Alan and I said, ‘hey, that's something interesting, we should go catch one to keep as a pet.”
When they learned more about the mystery roach, they started to realize they had discovered something unique.
Cognato, who identified his first new species in 1998, coordinated with collectors and researchers around the world to examine populations of the cockroach in Florida with related and similar species. Researchers found populations of the same cockroach in Austria and Malaysia.
To identify this new species, researchers looked at the morphology, physical characteristics, and DNA of the collected specimens and compared them to other known Nocticola species. The collected specimens showed significant divergence in the COI gene, a segment of mitochondrial DNA often used in species identification.
“Most of the time you don’t know a new species until you get them under a microscope or look at their DNA, so after we get the insects into the lab is when it gets real exciting,” Cognato said.
Researchers found that the DNA of the Florida and exotic pet specimens found in Malaysia was identical to one another but differed slightly from the Austrian specimens. The team concluded that the three specimens formed a monophyletic group, meaning they all evolved from one common ancestor.
It was determined that Wang had come across an undescribed species of Nocticolid cockroach, which the MSU researchers have named Nocticola vagus. The genus is mostly found in Africa and Asia, and this was the first discovery of this genus and species in the Western Hemisphere. The study was recently published in Zootaxa by Wang, Jeon and Cognato.
One of the defining traits of this new species is that it is parthenogenetic, meaning females can reproduce without fertilization from males. This is the first recorded instance of this trait in Nocticolidae. Researchers believe the species likely spread through the soil of potted plants, and that asexual reproduction enabled it to establish a population far from its native range.
Preserved specimens from each source of the new species are now housed in the A.J. Cook Arthropod Research Collection (ARC) at MSU, contributing to the growing knowledge about the diversity of Nocticolidae. The holotype, the designated single specimen that represents a new species, provides a critical reference point for future studies and is included among these specimens.
“This research highlights the contributions that graduate students can make towards biodiversity knowledge and the role of the ARC in the preservation of scientifically important specimens like this holotype,” Cognato said.
The ARC hosts about 1.5 million preserved arthropod specimens from around the world, representing approximately 35,000 species. It has served as an invaluable scientific resource for 158 years, helping researchers identify new species, uncover information about evolutionary relationships and even support species conservation efforts.
“Our specimens are like books in the library,” Cognato said. “We've have specimens, mostly butterflies and moths, in a public database that are accessed very frequently. Our data has been cited in publications hundreds of times, and we lend out specimens to researchers around the world to study and compare with local specimens to help re-describe or identify a species.”
Modern technology has allowed researchers at the ARC to expand their search for undiscovered species into the digital world, Cognato said. Using DNA sequencing technology, researchers can search the databases of arthropod collections around the world to compare different samples to determine genetic matches or unique species characteristics.
“We have a technique that can sequence old degraded DNA. We’ve been successful in sequencing genes of more than 100 species, some specimens up to 100 years old,” Cognato said. “So now we explore collections just like we explore the woods. For example, an expedition from the Netherlands in the 1990s to Vietnam produced a large collection of specimens that can now be examined for new species. Discovery of new species gives you that Christmas morning feeling in this research.”
The Nocticola vagus cockroach marked Wang’s second species discovery in his short research career, which he plans to continue upon finishing his PhD at MSU. His long-term goal is to bridge the gap that exists between scientific research and hobby collectors and use networks to identify species and encourage a new generation of bug enthusiasts.
“I hope to bring the scientific community closer to the amateur community and the insect hobby community, in general,” Wang said. “The insect hobby community in the U.S. and around the world brings in a lot of undescribed, unique species to the scientific community, and if we can work more closely, I think we can a raise more interest and more funding for the scientific community and raise a new generation of promising young researchers that want to go into the field.”
