Sunday, February 26, 2023

More Corydiid Updates!

Oh boy, do I have lots of Corydiid updates, mostly about Arenivaga spp.. 😄

First off, I've got an adults in my Arenivaga sp. "Animas, NM" culture! Now I had originally tentatively ID'd these for Kyle as cf. tenax based on photos of his males. However, I've worked with two other strains that are more probably tenax than these Animas Arenivaga (namely "Dell City" and "Socorro"), and they look really different, with females and nymphs being darker and heavily patterned. Whereas these sp. "Animas" have barely any patterning and are a very light tan/orange color. The "Animas" also seem to have longer legs and look more lanky than the other cf. tenax strains I've worked with. So, despite the males' similarity to A.tenax, I no longer think they're that species.

Anyways, here are some pictures of the nymphs and adults:

Nymphs




Adult female


Adult males









Adult pair



A very pretty looking species, hopefully one that will breed nicely for me! 😁

For comparison, let's examine my Arenivaga cf. tenax "Socorro, TX" strain, (which are breeding very well for me BTW, and are now available for sale! 😉). I wanted to get some pictures of an adult pair side by side, so here are some pics of a couple pairs, (and a random lone female pic):

Adult female
Adult pairs





Here's hoping these become more popular in the hobby, these have been a breeze to rear and breed so far. 😊

I just had an adult pair of Arenivaga sp. "Rodeo" pop up in my culture, and the adults look almost identical to the "Socorro" and "Dell City" cf. tenax strains I've kept, so I'm pretty sure these are the same species, and I'll now refer to them as Arenivaga cf. tenax "Rodeo, NM".

Here are some pictures of them:

Adult female

Adult male


Their nymphs look pretty similar to the other two cf. tenax strains I've worked with, but differ a little bit in exact coloration and patterning (which is easily explained by locality differences), but are otherwise identical in morphology, and the adults look the same IMO.

Lastly, but not leastly, my largest Polyphaga plancyi female is FINALLY mature! 😁 And she's beautiful, here's hoping she mates with my male soon and starts laying some oothecae!

Here are some pictures of the female, and a couple shots of her side by side with the male:

Adult female






Adult pair


This is probably my favorite species of Polyphaga in culture, I'm so looking forward to seeing these established in the US hobby! 😁

Well, that does it for this post, thanks for reading, hope everyone enjoyed, stay safe, and I'll see you all next time! 😉

3 comments:

  1. Love Corydiids! Those Arenivaga species are stunning! Love their coloration! I will definitely get some from you 🥰. Congratulations on the plancyi! She is so fresh and vibrant! Good luck with the breeding! Keep us posted on the developments 🍻

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    1. Yeah, Arenivaga are so underrated! Hopefully they'll become established in culture over in Asia soon... Or at least Macao. 😉
      Yeah, she's a beaut. 😍 I was gonna ask your opinion actually, DOES she look mature to you? I really think she is, but you'd know better than I.

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    2. sorry for my late reply, i forgot to click notify me of ur replies, so i missed it...
      She definitely looks like a fully matured female to me :D
      best of luck! keep us posted :)

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