Mother of cakes or cockroaches are six-legged and hairy insects that are home invaders and will not die no matter how hard you try. They are indoor survival experts, hiding in kitchen pipes or damp cupboards, but they weren’t always like this.
A new study uses genetics to trace the spread of mother cakes around the world, from humble beginnings in Southeast Asia to Europe and beyond. The findings span thousands of years of the insect’s history and suggest that the pests may have spread around the world by hitching a ride on another species, humans.
The researchers analyzed the genes of more than 280 mother cakes from 17 countries and 6 continents. They confirmed that the German mother cake – a species found all over the world – actually originated in Southeast Asia and probably evolved from the Asian species of the insect around 2,100 years ago.
Mother Cakes then traveled around the world via two main routes. About 1200 years ago, they may have traveled to the Middle East from the west by hiding in soldiers’ bread baskets, and they may have gone to Europe about 270 years ago with the trade routes of the Dutch and British East India Companies.
