More Corydiid Updates!

Oh boy, do I have lots of Corydiid updates, mostly about Arenivaga spp.. 😄

First off, I've got an adults in my Arenivaga sp. "Animas, NM" culture! Now I had originally tentatively ID'd these for Kyle as cf. tenax based on photos of his males. However, I've worked with two other strains that are more probably tenax than these Animas Arenivaga (namely "Dell City" and "Socorro"), and they look really different, with females and nymphs being darker and heavily patterned. Whereas these sp. "Animas" have barely any patterning and are a very light tan/orange color. The "Animas" also seem to have longer legs and look more lanky than the other cf. tenax strains I've worked with. So, despite the males' similarity to A.tenax, I no longer think they're that species.

Anyways, here are some pictures of the nymphs and adults:

Nymphs

Adult female

Adult males

Adult pair

A very pretty looking species, hopefully one that will breed nicely for me! 😁

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For comparison, let's examine my Arenivaga cf. tenax "Socorro, TX" strain, (which are breeding very well for me BTW, and are now available for sale! 😉). I wanted to get some pictures of an adult pair side by side, so here are some pics of a couple pairs, (and a random lone female pic):

Adult female

Adult pairs

Here's hoping these become more popular in the hobby, these have been a breeze to rear and breed so far. 😊

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I just had an adult pair of Arenivaga sp. "Rodeo" pop up in my culture, and the adults look almost identical to the "Socorro" and "Dell City" cf. tenax strains I've kept, so I'm pretty sure these are the same species, and I'll now refer to them as Arenivaga cf. tenax "Rodeo, NM".

Here are some pictures of them:

Adult female

Adult male

Their nymphs look pretty similar to the other two cf. tenax strains I've worked with, but differ a little bit in exact coloration and patterning (which is easily explained by locality differences), but are otherwise identical in morphology, and the adults look the same IMO.

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Lastly, but not leastly, my largest Polyphaga plancyi female is FINALLY mature! 😁 And she's beautiful, here's hoping she mates with my male soon and starts laying some oothecae!

Here are some pictures of the female, and a couple shots of her side by side with the male:

Adult female

Adult pair

This is probably my favorite species of Polyphaga in culture, I'm so looking forward to seeing these established in the US hobby! 😁

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

A Couple Arenivaga Updates

So uh, apparently my three female Arenivaga bolliana "San Antonio, TX" nymphs have matured... What's weird is that they still LOOK like nymphs, but they've both started laying (infertile) ooths... So yeah, quite obviously adults. I've got three male subadults I've been keeping cool to sync them up properly with the females, and have now dumped them into the females' setup. So, hopefully those will start maturing soon, mate with the females, and I can salvage this strain in culture! 😅🤞

Here are some pictures of one of the females:

Note the reddish brown coloration, which by itself isn't super abnormal, but what is really weird are the pale markings in the middle of the thoracic segments, and the pale dots running down the margins of the abdomen. This is typical patterning for large/subadult nymphs, not adult females, very odd... Hopefully just aberrant coloration, and not a sign of a Serratia infection or anything like that.

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In less confusing, great news, my Arenivaga cf. tenax "Socorro, TX" have finally started hatching out! 😁 The substrate is absolutely full of ooths, so soon I should hopefully have a large colony going, and hope to start offering them for sale in the near future!

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

Arenivaga & Polyphaga Updates!

Happy New Year everyone! I got sick with the flu starting Christmas, so I haven't been very active online as a result... 😅 Starting to slowly get back into the rotation of things though. Got a few updates I'd like to share as well, so here we go!

First off, I finally have adult pairs in my Arenivaga cf. tenax "Socorro, TX" colony! 😊 The males definitely look like a good match for tenax, and the females are lovely. Very reminiscent of the old "Dell City, TX" strain which was almost certainly the same species.

Here are some pics of the pair:

Adult male

Adult female

The females have already been busy laying lots of ooths, I'm sure I'll be getting hatchlings in no time! 😁

Speaking of hatchlings, I've started getting some in my Arenivaga cf. apacha "Cave Creek Canyon, AZ" culture already! 😁 Glad to have bred these beauties so quickly, and the females are still pumping ooths out!

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One of my Polyphaga plancyi female nymphs molted recently, and I'm pretty sure she's a subadult now. 😍 Getting closer and closer to having an adult pair of this species, I'm excited!

Here are some pics of the presumably subadult female:

Absolutely stunning! 😁 I can't wait to see an adult female in person!

BTW, I'm starting to heavily suspect that the cool period for incubating the oothecae of this species is mandatory for hatching rather than optional, as the ooth I got a year ago that I've kept room temperature or warmer year round hasn't hatched... 🙃 I've put it and the few other ooths I got this Fall into a proper diapause now, we'll see if that gets them to develop properly. At least nymphs and adults certainly don't seem to need one, and seem to develop well within a year kept warm.

Well, that's gonna do it for this post, thanks for reading, hope everyone enjoyed, stay safe, and I'll see you all next time! 😉