"Black Tiger" Hissers are NOT "Tigers"

Well, the "Black Tiger" hissers I got from Ty Dye Exotics, who got theirs directly from Roachcrossing have finally started maturing... And yeah these are definitely NOT real "Tigers"... Or at the very least are a cross between Tiger hissers and portentosa. The pronotum structure of the adult males have all matched G.portentosa or "portentosa" mutts, and completely lack the anterior notch that true "Tigers" and all other P.vanwaerebeki strains have.

Here are some pictures of the pronotums of the two spp. to demonstrate what I mean:

Large male "Tiger" hisser. Noticeable anterior notch in the pronotum.

Medium/Small "Tiger" male. Still a noticeable anterior pronotum notch.

Minor male "Tiger". Much more shallow anterior notch on this one, but you can still see it.

Now take this medium male "Black Tiger"... No anterior pronotum notch whatsoever.

Clearly an obvious difference between the two. If these "Black Tigers" were truly a black morph of the pure "Tiger" stock, they'd have the anterior pronotum notch. Since they don't, they're definitely not pure "Tigers", and therefore should NOT be referred to as "Black Tigers" at all, the only morph name should be "Black" or "Black Hybrid". 

As for what species they really are, I'm not 100% sure. Technically they could just be pure, black G.portentosa, however considering we have no way to lineage trace these back to their origins, and the isolator is relatively unknown in the hobby, it's far safer to conclude that they're a hybrid, probably some "portentosa" mutt. Perhaps they are portentosa crossed with "Tigers" that reverted to portentosa morphology, which would explain the "Black Tiger" name a bit more.

When it comes to labeling them from here on out, rather than call them Gromphadorhina grandidieri "Black Tiger" (which is already an erroneous identification for the true "Tiger" stock) or Princisia vanwaerebeki "Black Tiger" (which they're not, since they're not *pure* "Tigers"), they should be called Gromphadorhini sp. "Black" or "Black Hybrid". Gromphadorhini because they're probably a hybrid, and could potentially be a hybrid between Gromphadorhina and Princisia. If/when those genera are synonymized then we can just call them Gromphadorhina sp. "Black/Hybrid", but for now Gromphadorhini would be the most accurate IMO.

Anyways, here are some pictures of one of my adult pairs:

Adult male

Adult female 

Don't get me wrong, these are very pretty hissers, line bred for beautiful and consistent coloration, but they are almost certainly hybrids, and should be labeled as such. They should NOT be labeled as "Black Tigers" anymore, and since this stock seems to be the oldest, most widespread "Black Tiger" strain on the market, the findings of this post should be applicable to ALL "Black Tigers" in the hobby... 

So, TLDR; Ditch the "Tiger" in "Black Tiger" people, otherwise the name literally makes NO SENSE. And don't be selling them under species names either, they're almost certainly hybrids, Gromphadorhini is as far as you can legitimately go when using latin names for this stock!

Thank you all for reading, hope everyone found this informative, stay safe, stay buggy, and I'll see you all next time! 😉

A Birthday Gift from Ty!

Well, earlier this month Ty of Ty Dye Exotics offered to send me a box as a birthday gift, so I went through his list and picked out a couple goodies! 😄

Firstly I got a group of 15 Anallacta methanoides from him, since my previous group from Kyle isn't doing so hot and oddly refuse to lay me any ooths... 🤔 Granted, I put them in the same gallon jar I housed my Hemithyrsocera vittata and Balta notulata in, both of which crashed in that container... So either there's something seriously wrong in that setup like a pathogen or something that has persisted despite several cleanings, OR it's just cursed...

Anyways, I moved the old Anallacta group to a new setup and finally threw out the cursed jar... But just in case I decided to get another group from Ty this time, and am housing them in a separate container from my older group. Hopefully they'll do well for me this go around!

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Secondly, I finally decided to see for myself what the entity known as the "Black Tiger Hisser" is in the US hobby. 😅 Ty got some from Kyle of Roachcrossing last year, so his are the old, "Pure" (or at least untainted for the last decade or so) stock.

Supposedly these are a black morph isolated from the US "Tiger" hisser stock usually labeled as "Gromphadorhina grandidieri", (though they are far more likely a form of Princisia vanwaerebeki IMO). However, from pictures I've seen, I actually think this black stain is just a G.portentosa (or more likely "portentosa" mutt) line... Some of the mature males I've seen online don't seem to have the anterior pronotum notch that all true "Tiger" hisser males would have... In which case these shouldn't be called "Black Tigers", nor should any other black hisser line in the hobby... That being said, I can only tell so much from pictures, so I finally got a group of this species to see in person what they truly are.

I've got mine housed in a well ventilated enclosure with a thin layer of coconut fiber as the substrate. They've got bark for hides, I'm keeping half the enclosure humid, the other half dry, and they're being kept at around 75-85F°. I'm offering dog food, fruits and veggies for food.

Here are some pictures of the nymphs:

These look very much like just dark Gromphadorhina portentosa in terms of coloration and morphology, if I remember correctly the true "Tiger" hisser nymphs I reared were more broad in morphology. Again though, time will tell, once I get a good sample of adult males I should easily be able to determine whether they're from the pure "Tiger" hisser line or not.

Anyways, that's gonna do it for this post, thanks again Ty for the present! 😁 Hope y'all enjoyed, thanks for reading, stay safe, and I'll see everyone next time! 😉

PS: If you're interested in my thoughts on "Black Tiger" hissers in general, see my older post on the subject:

A Confusing Taxonomy Disscusion: Gromphadorhina sp. "grandidieri" "Black Tiger"

And for my more recent suspicion as to the identification of pure "Tiger" hissers in general (Gromphadorhina VS Princisia) see my post:

The Mysterious Tiger Hissers!