Archimandrita tesselata VS Archimandrita marmorata

In yet another case of an old hobby stock being misidentified for decades, it has been revealed that the common "Archimandrita tesselata" stock that's been in captivity for as long as I can remember is actually, Archimandrita marmorata. 

Whereas the larger, newer Archimandrita stocks from "Cerro Chucanti, Panama" (of which there is a US hobby line and EU hobby line, both collected at different times by different people, but from the same general locality) is actually true Archimandrita tesselata. 

Thanks to Alan Jeon for initially keying these two stocks out by referencing this paper. In addition to A.tesselata being a larger species than A.marmorata, the interocular space (the space between the eyes) is wider in A.marmorata than in A.tesselata. 

The old hobby stock Archimandrita are significantly smaller than the new Panama stocks, and do have a wider interocular space, which clearly keys them out to actually be A.marmorata. 

Whereas the Panama Archimandrita are significantly larger than the old hobby stock, and have a thinner interocular space, thus clearly making them true A.tesselata.

A.tesselata "Cerro Chucanti"

A.marmorata "Old Hobby Stock"

Yet more labels to correct for all us pet roach hobbyists, and I am unfortunately sure there will be much confusion about the two stocks now... but at least we can now confirm we have both of the currently known Archimandrita species in culture now! 😅 And now know how to differentiate them as well.

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