Pokemon Just Inspired The Name Of A New Cockroach
Pokemon Sun and Moon's Pheramosa was the inspiration behind the naming of a new cockroach species.
A new cockroach species has been discovered and named after a Pokemon Pheramosa, a Gen 7 Ultra Beast Pokemon from the famed Nintendo 3DS game Pokemon Sun and Moon. While the discovery of a new cockroach species is a novelty, having something from Kingdom Animalia named after Pokemon, or vice versa certainly isn’t.
As reported by Nintendo Life, the new species of cockroach was found in Singapore back in 2016, but its discovery and origins have been a complete mystery for entomologists. However, after extensive study of this new species, it’s now fully documented under the name of Nocticola Pheromosa. Interestingly enough, there are several similarities between the newly-found delicate cockroach and the Pokemon from the 2016 game—mainly the long antenna, hooded wings, and long legs.
In fact, the naming of the Pokemon cockroach is actually well thought off due to the appearance-based similarities—though the Pheromosa from the Pokemon franchise also has an anthropomorphic female appearance. Pheromosa is a Bug/Fighting-type of Pokemon that was originally introduced in Pokemon Sun and Moon as one of the Ultra Beasts—a group of extraterrestrial Pokemon featured in the game. And those were very rare Pokemon, which have an alien appearance and code.
The official documentation of the Pokemon cockroach, which took its sweet time due to data gathering, will certainly cause some nostalgia among Pokemon-loving entomologists. The naming alone proves that such individuals exist. While the origins of this peculiar cockroach still remain unknown, the bug is certain to join a pretty elusive group of real-life creatures that bear Pokemon names.
These include three beetles discovered in Australia, named after Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres, thanks to their vivid coloring.
In addition to the aforementioned, a newly discovered wasp was named after Weedle in 2011, and a handful of prehistoric creatures that once roamed the Earth were named after more popular Pokemon, like Bulbasaur and Aerodactyl. Hopefully, we won’t have the opportunity to find a Mega Charizard anytime soon or Quaxly’s final form—the latter would be pretty weird for all the internet weirdoes out there.
Pokemon Sun and Moon, which introduced the game version of the Pokemon cockroach, was released in 2016 as a role-playing game for Nintendo 3DS, as the first installment in the seventh generation of the Pokemon gaming franchise—two generations before Scarlet and Violet. The games have adventure elements presented in a third-person overhead perspective—due to 3DS’s hardware—in which the player controls a young trainer who goes on a quest to catch them all. The games had all the typical Pokemon RPG mechanics you’d expect from a 2016 Pokemon title.
Pokemon Sun and Moon had exceptionally high ratings upon release, placing as the fifth and the sixth highest-rated games on 3DS and the 19th and 20th games on console of all time. It also moved the franchise further away from the previous system, which received widespread praise from the critics, and was one of the first steps towards the open-world Pokemon gaming we’re currently seeing from Pokemon Scarlet and Violet.
