Earth boasts some 4,600 species of cockroach, but perhaps none is as widespread as the German cockroach (Blattella germanica), which is today found anywhere humans permanently inhabit.
German cockroaches have adapted to living with humans with incredible speed and specificity, says Qian Tang, an evolutionary biologist at Harvard University and a co-author of the new research.
Its geographical ascendancy seems to boil down to its ability to adapt to humans, the researchers point out.
We're well aware of how humans affect the natural world, but we're less aware of how organisms in nature might be adapting to us.
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