New Bugs & Random Stuff

I've been wanting to do a larger post about all the bugs I got from my buddy Brandon Maines when I visited him last year, as well as talk about that trip in general, but I just haven't had the time...  so I guess I'll post about them in a more piecemeal fashion, as I eventually bother to get pictures of all of those species...

One of the more impressive acquisitions from that trip were these pure Blaberus giganteus "PA University". These are a big, beautiful, and relatively hardy line, and the first and only giganteus I have kept. I'm glad to finally be breeding these, and to be able to make them available, as it can be tricky to find real, pure giganteus nowadays.

I have mine in a 27 qt. container with moderate levels of ventilation. I have them on 2 inches or so of coconut fiber mixed with coco coir chunks, and they have some eggcrate and vertically slanted bark hides to cling to. I keep two thirds of the substrate humid, the other third dry, and am feeding them dog food, fruits and veggies. The colony is sitting at about 80F°.

Here are some pictures of an adult female:

Such impressive roaches, and I believe the third longest species of cockroach in terms of wingspan (being beat by Megaloblatta longipennis, and M.blaberoides respectively). Definitely a must have for cockroach enthusiasts everywhere!

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At some point I did another trade with Satchell Watts-Kerr, for a variety of inverts that I still need to post about... including these beautiful Labidura riparia "Lake Placid, FL". This is one of the largest earwigs present in the US, and perhaps the longest considering the crazy long forceps that major males possess. The patterning of this species varies a lot from locality to locality, this one a relatively dark locality with some nice red highlights.

Now I'd heard that these were a finicky species, and to an extent that is true, as these are an especially protein hungry and predatory species, for an earwig. However, with ample space, some live prey and more basic protein sources available at all times, I have had no issues establishing and maintaining a thriving colony of this species at all. 🤷

I have mine in a moderately ventilated 5 gallon gasket bin, with 3-4 inches of a sand and coco fiber mix (about 60% sand, 40% coco fiber). I am keeping them moist and at 80-85F°, and am feeding them dog food and fish pellets, as well as Compsodes, Nocticola and Tagaloblatta. There are also Trichorhina tomentosa breeding in their setup that I'm sure they're consuming as well.

Here are some pics of an adult male:

The forceps on these guys are crazy, such a pretty and unique species of earwig, and again, pretty large as well!

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I'm pretty much always getting in new bugs from Alan Jeon, he is truly an enabler to my addiction. 🤣 One addition that I've been lusting after for years are these currently undescribed Euthlastoblatta sp. "Miramar Beach, FL". They are found in multiple areas in Florida and I think adjacent states as well, and are a large species for the genus, with very attractively patterned nymphs.

I set up my 2.1 adult trio in a well ventilated gallon jar with a thin layer of coconut fiber substrate topped in a few inches of coco coir chunks. I'm feeding them dog food and apple slices, and am keeping them semi-humid, at around 80-85F°. They seem to be doing well, and I started finding hatchlings last month, and at least one male and the female are still alive.

Here are some pictures of an adult pair:

Male

Female

Female (Left) & Male (Right)

Quite an attractive species IMO, can't wait to see their nymphs grow up so I can get some pictures of their striking, ornate patterning! This is supposed to be quite a finicky species, so if I can successfully establish a colony and get them thriving for me, that would be quite the achievement!

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One of the more annoying pests in my collection are Pyralis farinalis, the Meal Moth. They have a propensity for getting into enclosures, and their larvae create silken tubes in the substrate which they live within, feeding on leaf litter and grain based foods. Large infestations can turn the upper layers of substrate into a solid mat of silk tubes, which is rather unappealing and can be stressful to some inverts.

Despite this, some of you FREAKS actually like these things and want to culture them... I suppose adults could make good feeders for arboreal, visual predators, but at what cost?

In any case, I decided to offer them on my For Sale page, and have surpringly had some takers already. I needed to get some photos for my listing, so here:

They are not an unattractive species, but boy do I wish they would leave my collection alone... 🙃

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Now for something a bit more unusual, while hiking the Kepros Mountain trail outside of Boise, ID, I came across a beetle I have never seen before, and that I could not identify, even to family for the life of me. Turns out, it was a Pseudomorpha species, so called "Western False Form Beetles", I assume because they look nothing like typical members of their family, Carabidae. Their larvae are ant nest inquilines, and most species in the US are still undescribed. Very neat little beetles that I've never even heard of before, always nice to learn something new! 😄

Here are some pictures I took of the little cutie before I let it go:

Too bad they are dependent on ants for their development, so they're not something I would ever realistically attempt breeding myself.

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

Some Asian Invert Updates

FINALLY, after years of dead ends and dud oothecae, I have gotten my hands on four nymphs of Polyphaga obscura, from the locality of "Turpan, Xinjiang, China". A parthenogenetic line, and with locality data as well, this strain of obscura supposedly gets as large as P.saussurei (if not larger).

While mine are only medium sized nymphs, it's already easy to see the difference between them and saussurei. P.saussurei nymphs are far more colorful at this life stage, and even when adults have some more dorsal patterning/spots on them compared to the darker P.obscura.

I have them set up in a well ventilated enclosure with a couple inches of coconut fiber/sand mix, topped with leaf litter. I'm keeping a third of the substrate moist, the rest dry, and have them at around 80-85F°. I'm offering dog food as the staple diet.

Here are some pictures of one of the obscura nymphs, compared to a saussurei nymph of the same size:

P.obscura

P.saussurei

P.saussurei (Top) VS P.obscura (Bottom)

I can't wait for these to mature, I'm really hoping I can get a colony established!

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Unfortunately, I've failed at establishing a colony of Rhabdoblatta imperatrix. When I first got my group of 10 nymphs, I immediately split them evenly between myself and Brandon Maines. However, much to our dismay, it's become increasingly clear that they came in infected with Serratia... both our groups were doing fine as small nymphs up until a few molts from adulthood, and that's when they started molting out with wrinkled, spotty exoskeletons (a common sign of Serratia infection in my experience). Neither me nor Brandon have frequent Serratia outbreaks in our collections, not anymore at least, so the fact that both of us had these issues suggests it was something they came in infected with.

It's around this time that a majority of ours started dying off due to mismolts. Either they'd die before fully exiting their skins, or molt out so deformed that they died not long afterwards. While at least a couple of the deaths in my group seem to have been due to a lack of suitable vertical molting areas (which do appear to be a necessity for this species), most of the other mismolts seem to have been Serratia related complications.

Out of 5 males and 5 females (a shockingly even sex ratio), split between me and Brandon, only 2 males and 1 female made it to adulthood. Said female came out a bit deformed, with a wrinkled exoskeleton texture and warped wings (common results of Serratia infection). She aborted her first internal oothecae after about a month of maturity. It came out covered in tough, foamy white deposits, which is unusual.

She was still alive though, so I was hopeful she would produce another oothecae. However about a month later, she aborted her second ooth, and then died shortly afterwards.😩 A very unfortunate end to this project, I was really hoping to establish them in the hobby here. Hopefully I can acquire more healthy stock in the future, but I'm not sure how likely that will be.

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In more random but equally unfortunate news, someone randomly sent me a couple WC Liphistius sp. "Vietnam" females along with some roaches I'd traded them for. Unfortunately I don't think they were kept very well beforehand, and were shipped rather poorly IMO, so they lasted only a week after I received them before both dying off.

But, I got some pictures of the largest one while it was still alive, and figure I might as well post them here:

Very pretty and ancient looking spiders, I'd love to work with and attempt to breed this genus one day, preferably with CB or at least better acclimated WC individuals next time. 😅

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One last sad update before I get to a more positive one, I lost my entire Eupolyphaga sinensis "Peking, China" colony due to entomophagous fungus infection. 😭 So, no locality data E.sinensis for the US hobby I guess. I almost lost my "White Eye" sinensis to this same issue, but thankfully I have seemingly pulled them out of this infection. 

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Now for a more interesting and positive update, my Blattidae sp. "China" pair made it to adulthood and have produced a bunch of offspring! After seeing adults in person I initially assumed they were Blatta orientalis, however I noticed some differences between them and the normal hobby stock B.orientalis that had me second guessing this ID. However I only had pictures of hobby stock B.orientalis to go off of... so I had my good friend and enabler Alan Jeon send me some to compare to these Chinese Blatta. 😂 After comparing the two stocks in person, it seems to me that the Chinese stock may be an undescribed Blatta, or at the very least a very unique locality of orientalis (if only this stock actually had locality info... 😩). 

Here are some photos of the sp. "China" and true B.orientalis:

sp. "China" male

sp. "China" female

sp. "China" pair

orientalis (left) VS sp. "China" (right) males

orientalis (right) VS sp. "China" (left) males

orientalis males

orientalis female

Some of the differences I notice between the males are differences in styli lengths, pronotum shape, wing/exoskeleton texture, wing shape, and the terminal abdominal segments. Females of the two strains look pretty much identical to me. Hopefully I can get a definitive ID on these sp. "China" in the future, but for now I won't hold my breath.

In any case, I now have healthy cultures of both of these, and I am making the B.orientalis available now if anyone wants those (I feel like I often have people asking if I sell orientalis, for whatever reason, so now I do). The sp. "China" will probably be available in the near future as well.

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Lastly, I would like to point out that my Pseudoglomeris semisulcata have produced yet another litter since my last post about them! And the nymphs from the last two litters are growing well. So this species is going strong, and hopefully next year I can show off some adult males!

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