If you have Katsaridaphobia (fear of cockroaches), this newly discovered species of cockroach named saltoblattella montistabularis or simply “leaproach” could make you say “eeww” ten times more because this pest cannot only fly, it jumps.
According to the study published on the Royal Society Publishing, it jumps by using its hind legs that are twice the length of the other legs and make up 10 percent of the body weight. The leaproach can leap forward up to 48 times its body length.


Video of the South African leaproach jumping in slow motion has become a YouTube hit with 58,353 views as of this writing, see it below.

The insect was discovered by the study’s author Dr. Mike Picker, an entomologist at the University of Cape Town, and his co-author Jonathan F. Colville in 2006 while looking for ant larvae in the Silvermine Nature Reserve in the Table Mountain National Park in South Africa, The New York times reports.
Here’s the good news. This kind of cockroaches lives in grasslands and feeds on grasshopper droppings, according to the study, this means it may not like your home. The study also compares the leaproach to grasshoppers. “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.