- 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... 😭
Wow, I can't believe we finally know what the Stump Roaches are, they certainly are one of my very favourites along with A. grandiscanyonensis. Alan really does not get enough recognition for all he has done for the hobby!
ReplyDeleteI know, nice to put a name to them! Their coloration (of the adult malss at least) is very atypical for the species! Unfortunately we have seemingly lost the Mt Ords from culture... 😭 The males I sent him were dried specimens I saved years ago.
DeleteWould be very cool to get grandcanyonensis in culture one day! Indeed, he is the backbone of US Blatticulture IMO!
Nooo! I thought Kyle still had some Mt Ords, but it would be a true miracle if they still exist in the wild, so I guess it is too late for them. While still on the topic of identifications, do you think it is possible that Porcellio sp. "Canary Islands - Spiky" is actually Porcellio ombrionis? It would make complete sense because they look exactly the same (to me) and P. ombrionis seems to be endemic to the Canary Islands.
DeleteUnfortunately his crashed. 😭 Seems no one else keeps them still. Now that we know it's grata though and not some super special undescribed species with a limited range, there's a good chance there's still some present in or near that locality that should look pretty much the same. So always a chance of getting them again.
DeleteHmm that could be what the sp. "Canary Islands" are, I'll have to ask some of my more knowledge isopod friends what they think. There are several endemic Porcellio on the Canary Islands actually, and I think a lot of them look quite similar, so the captive stock may be something else, or something undescribed.
It just means we won't be able to call them "Stump Roaches" anymore unless the next stock collected is also from a stump. Upon closer inspection, P. ombrionis seems to have a slightly different tubercle shape and spacing from P. sp. " Canary Islands - Spiky", but that may just be natural variation within the species, and I am no expert. Just out of curiosity, where might I find a list of other canary island Porcellio?
DeleteAh that's true... didn't think of that since I don't really use common names. XD
DeleteYeah I've asked around and supposedly these have already been compared to P.ombrionis by at least a couple experts before and they don't think that's the right ID for the captive stock... so who knows. Not really sure on a good place to find that info, I am very out of the know in terms of isopod taxonomy, all I know is that it's apparently in horrendous need of revisions.
I don't really like common names either, but some are too endearing too ignore, like 'Florida False Weta'. Porcellio aff. ombrionis might be a good temporary ID for the Canary Islands sp. in my opinion.
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