cf. Ellypygia spp. from Belize!

Got a couple new species to show off here from Roachcrossing, both seemingly members of the genus Ellipygia, collected from San Ignacio, Belize. These are small little Blattellids, with tiny vestigial wings, generally brown coloration with minimal patterning, that seem to be rather easy and straightforward to culture.

This first species here which I'm labeling as cf. Ellipygia sp. "San Ignacio, Belize - OW", the "OW" being in reference to the adults having only one pair of wings. These are a stout, compact bodied species with some slight reddish margins to their thoracic segments, and an overall dark brown body coloration.

I have these set up in a moderately ventilated enclosure with a thin layer of coco fiber substrate, topped with bark and eggcrate hides. I'm feeding them dog food and apple slices, and keeping them humid and warm at around 75-80F°.

A cute little species, I have several adults of these to work with, and hopefully will establish a colony of them pretty easily! 

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The second species I am labeling cf. Ellipygia sp. "San Ignacio, Belize - TW", the "TW" in reference to this species having two pairs of wings. This species is larger than the "OW", and has more colorful margins to their thoracic segments, and a dark red line going down the middle of their pronotum as well.

I only have a single adult female of this species, however she should be mated, so hopefully I'll be able to establish a colony of them nonetheless. 🤞I have her set up in an enclosure identical to that of the previous species.

Cute new additions to culture, hopefully they'll both thrive for me and stick around in the hobby for years to come!

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

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!

(If you'd like to read more about how I reached the conclusion that the old hobby stock Hemiblabera are H.roseni, feel free to check out my post about it here).

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! 😉

More Arenivaga IDs Courtesy of Alan!

Alan Jeon has come through with some more Arenivaga IDs from some dead males I've saved and sent to him. 😁 After dissecting their genitalia and examining them he has confirmed to the following IDs:

• Arenivaga sp. "Mt Ord, AZ" = Arenivaga grata
• Arenivaga cf. investigata "Borrego Springs, CA" = Arenivaga investigata
• Arenivaga cf. investigata "Imperial Dunes, CA" = Arenivaga investigata
• Arenivaga cf. nalepae "Bakersfield, CA" = Arenivaga nalepae
• Arenivaga cf. tenax "Rodeo, NM" = Arenivaga tenax

Most of of these IDs were already suspected just based off external morphology and appearance, but it's nice to have solid IDs on them. 😄

Side note, if anyone still keeps Arenivaga grata "Mt. Ord, AZ", please contact me, as I would very much like to get a colony back! Seems they may have died out of culture... 😭

Lamproblatta sp. "Uvita" = Lamproblatta albipalpus!

After a little chat with Dominic Evangelista, who I consider the leading expert on all things Lamproblatta, in which I sent him photos of my Lamproblatta sp. "Uvita, Costa Rica", he was able to identify them as L.albipalpus, based off the subgenital plate morphology and the bulbously inflated first segment on the male's hind tarsis (the latter feature was not very clearly visible in my pictures but I was able to confirm after examining one of my males in person). So nice to have a species ID on these beauties!

Oh, I guess I should mention that not only did all the nymphs I started with mature successfully, but they've bred well, have been laying lots of oothecae, and now the next generation has started hatching out! So seems they are doing quite well for me.

Adult male

Oothecae

Looks like I'm well on my way to establishing a healthy colony of this species, and should be able to make them available here within a couple months or so!

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