Periplaneta Americana, the “worldwide American” may be going extinct.

No, the beloved “palmetto bug” of Florida, the 1and 1/2 inch flying Blatellid from Hell, now widespread on all continents of the planet, may be gradually disappearing, after a 300 million year succesful evolutionary run.

Do I have any evidence of this? No, I haven’t read it anywhere, conducted any surveys, or otherwise studied the subject. But I was born and raised in Florida, and I’ve lived here most of my life, and there just don’t seem to be as many of them now as there used to be. No matter how much you cleaned your house, or how much you sprayed, you could never eliminate them altogether. And if you neglected them, they just took over.

They live everywhere, in the wild, and in your house, even in your car. They are ubiquitous. But lately, they just don’t seem as common as they used to be. I admit this is just anecdotal evidence, without any scientific backup, but I trust my instincts on this. I’ve also noticed that its cousin, the equally pesky German Cockroach, doesn’t sem to be any less common than it used to be. Hmmmm.

Maybe I’m just being paranoid here, but I have reason to be concerned. If anything is capable of taking out this survivor, I want to know about it. I live here too.