Real Hemiblabera brunneri!

I can hardly believe it folks, but it looks like we finally have true Hemiblabera brunneri in culture, from Manati, Puerto Rico! Not mislabeled H.roseni, but real, bonefide H.brunneri! I have read the original description for that species by Saussure, 1869 (which mistakenly reports the locality as being "Brasilia", a mistake Princis, 1963 later noted when moving this species to Hemiblabera), and these seem to match perfectly in terms of coloration, morphology, and length. These are a pretty small species, maxing out at 40 mm, and far skinnier and more cylindrical than the other Hemiblabera spp. I've kept. They are absolutely dwarfed by H.roseni, which is ironically mislabeled as H.brunneri in the European and Asian roach hobbies. So let this post serve as a wake up call to those still labeling their stocks as H.brunneri overseas; if they don't look like the below animals, they are not brunneri!

Now, there may be a second, darker Hemiblabera species also found on PR, however it seems H.brunneri may have variable color across it's range, (indeed Rehn & Hebard say as much in their 1927 key to the genus), so further study is needed before saying for sure. There was also another species from PR, H.manca, that was synonymized with H.brunneri, which could perhaps represent those darker phenotypes. However, the species description for manca is terribly short and bereft of any physical characteristics other than wing shape, with no mention of color...

In any case, this specific locality from Manati that we now have in culture seems to match the holotype description perfectly, so I can confidently say that these should be true H.brunneri.

I have my pair in a moderately ventilated enclosure with a substrate of coco fiber a couple inches deep, kept moist. I have them at around 75-80F, and am feeding them dog food and apple. Pretty standard Hemiblabera conditions.

Original description of brunneri

Translation

Female

Male

Pair

These are some truly stunning roaches, and it's nice to see actual representatives of a species whose name was falsely attributed to an older hobby Hemiblabera stock (namely H.roseni in the European and Asian hobbies). Hopefully these establish well for me, from what I hear they breed pretty readily in captivity, much like the other Hemiblabera spp. we have in culture. 

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