PHE’s Mark Stoeckle co-authored the first large-scale study of an important urban wildlife denizen, the American cockroach (Periplaneta americana). This work demonstrates that genetically divergent lineages of American cockroach, likely from different parts of the globe, have emigrated to New York City where they now live together and interbreed–a lot like people!  Co-authors include Chris von Beeren and Daniel Kronauer in the Rockefeller Laboratory  of Insect Social Evolution; Joyce Xia, a Rockefeller Summer Program student; and Griffin Burke, a Bard College undergraduate.  The report appeared on February 6, 2015 in Nature’s open access journal Scientific Reports (link to article). This paper is the culmination of PHE’s National Cockroach Project  which enticed 85 citizen scientists to contribute nearly 300 cockroach specimens from mostly from New York City, but also from 16 other U.S. states and 6 countries. Thanks to all contributors!