More Roachy Updates!

My Eurycotis improcera colony has started throwing out individuals with white eyes, which is pretty awesome! Should be a simple recessive gene as in other roach species, so I've isolated about 8 of these individuals in the hopes of isolating this morph. 

Here are some pictures of an adult male:

Hopefully this morph proves out, if so this will be the first cockroach morph I've ever isolated, and a first isolation for this species in captivity as far as I'm aware! 😁

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This Summer I received a culture of Arenivaga cf. nalepae from Bakersfield, CA, courtesy of Maddog4621 on discord. This is a new species for culture, and one of many California endemic Arenivaga species (which we still need more of in the hobby). This species has rather pale males with minimal pronotum markings, and little to no dark mottling on the tegmina. The females are reddish in color, again with little to no patterning. They seem to prefer a more inorganic substrate mix, so I have mine set up on play sand, and they seem to be doing well.

I've got them housed in a well ventilated enclosure with an inch and a half of sand at the bottom, keeping one third of the substrate moist, the rest dry. I'm feeding them leaf litter and dog food, and have them at around 75-80F°. 

Here are some pictures of an adult pair:

Male

Female

So far they're doing well for me and breeding, so fingers crossed we get these well established in the hobby!

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My Eublaberus cf. posticus "French Guiana" have finally started to mature, and boy are they pretty! 😍 The patterning of the pronotums is very variable, one thing that does seem to be a bit consistent though is that males tend to have darker tegmina, whereas the female tegmina are lighter.

Here are some pictures of a pair:

Fingers crossed they'll breed well for me, the females are already looking rather plump!

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I was lucky enough to get my hands on groups of both Schizopilia fissicollis and Capucina patula again this Fall (my last attempt with those species ended in failure, as they got pesticide poisoning, along with a lot of other species in my collection).

I've got both species housed in moderately ventilated 5 gallon gasket tubs with coco coir chunks substrate, topped with a bunch of vertically slanted cork bark. It would appear neither species actually requires extremely flat bark, good old cork bark pieces are all that's necessary (and is what most EU breeders keep theirs on).

I'm keeping both species semi-humid, the Schizopilia seems to be able to handle higher humidity, but don't like very moist conditions. Whereas the Capucina like it a bit more on the dry side.

I took pictures of adult Capucina last time I tried them, but never got to photograph adult Schizopilia, until now! Here's a pair of the S.fissicollis:

The pronotum morphology on this species is insane! 😍 Such a unique and pretty species, and one that seems to be doing rather well for me. I have a pretty even sex ratio in my Schizopilia culture, whereas the Capucina were very male heavy. I have adults of both sexes in both species now though, so should be a matter of time until I see some breeding action from them!

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Lastly, my Archimandrita tesselata have not only matured over the Summer, but have produced offspring of their own. These are such large and pretty roaches, and I finally got around to getting pictures of one of my mature females.

Here she is:

A very nice hobby staple, there's a reason they've stuck around in culture as long as they have. 😁

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

The Current State of Hobby Platymeris Taxonomy

So, over the past few years a number of changes have been made to the way we label the various Platymeris spp. in captive culture, and with a recent revelation made on hobby stock "guttatipennis", I figure now is as good a time as any to cover the various Platymeris strains in culture, and provide the proper, updated IDs for them all, to prevent people from getting confused and mixing up stocks (which is important considering recent evidence shows that the different species can indeed hybridize in captivity).

Platymeris biguttatus (White Spot Assassin Bug)

This species is the only hobby Platymeris with white wing spots. The wild type has yellow leg bands, but there is an isolated color morph in captivity referred to as "Ghost" which has white leg bands. Pretty easily distinguished from other hobby Platymeris by the coloration, and as far as I know the ID has never been contested.

Wild type ©Roachcrosssing

"Ghost" morph

Platymeris guttatipennis "Somaliland"

This is probably the least commonly cultured Platymeris, adults have yellow wing spots and yellow leg banding. No other color variations are known at this time, at least not in the hobby stock. I am only aware of this one locality in culture.

©Karel Kodejš

Platymeris laevicollis (Red Spot Assassin Bug)

This species was originally misidentified as P.rhadamanthus when it entered culture, though it's become clear in recent years that they are actually P.laevicollis. Adults have red wing spots that are relatively small compared to the spots of other Platymeris, and red leg banding. No other color forms are known.

©James Finsel

©James Finsel

Platymeris rhadamanthus "Mombo, Tanzania" (Mombo Assassin Bug)

This strain went unidentified past genus for years, until the redescription of P.rhadamanthus which led not only to the Red Spots getting reidentified as P.laevicollis, but also provided enough evidence to label this stock as true P.rhadamanthus.

Most colonies of this locality in the pet trade consistently throw out adults with orange wing spots, though apparently the founding stock all had yellow wing spots, and the resulting offspring were much more variable, with adults throwing out red, orange and yellow wing spots, and both red and orange banded legs.

Here's a quote from the original collector of this strain, Djari Sabutaro: "In 2000, I collected six of them in the countryside near Mombo, in Tanzania. They were living under the overhanging bark of a large tree growing between agricultural fields.  From these six came this entire culture. They were all coloured with yellow spots on their wings and red legs. All the other colours appeared during the course of the culture".

Reddish Spotted, Red Leg form ©Djari Sabutaro

Orange Spotted, Orange Leg form ©Djari Sabutaro

Yellow Spotted, Red Leg form ©Djari Sabutaro

Platymeris cf. rhadamanthus "Burundi"/"Kenya"

These two strains were initially identified as "Platymeris cf. guttatipennis", on account of having yellow wing spots. However, as mentioned previously, true guttatipennis have yellow leg bands, whereas these two strains have red leg bands. Adults of these two strains also have spines on the humeral angles of the pronotum, which true guttatipennis lack.

Additionally, we now know that true rhadamanthus can also have yellow wing spots, and that species is a much closer match for these two strains. They're smaller than the "Mombo" locality, but the marginal size difference is not enough to suggest these are a different species.

Sadly, the "Burundi" line has apparently died out of culture.

"Kenya" locality

"Burundi" locality ©Jörn Strahl

Hopefully I did a good job of explaining the proper identities of these different hobby stocks, and hopefully y'all found this informative. 😄 Big thanks to everyone who let me use their photos for this post!

Thanks for reading, hope everyone enjoyed, and I'll see you all next time! 😉

New Chinese Inverts!

Back in Summer I received a few new Chinese species, which I'm hoping I can establish colonies of. 🤞 

First off, we have Rhabdoblatta imperatrix. These are one of the largest species of Rhabdoblatta, pretty much Blaberus sized. As such they need a lot of space even for a starter colony, and are also similar to others Rhabdoblattinae in their disdain for buildups of filth, overcrowding, and lack of food (so a large colony will need quite a bit of space, and preferably lots of surface area and leaf litter). So definitely a species for the experienced Blatticulturist, but rewarding in their impressive size and adult patterning. 

I've got my half a dozen nymphs in a moderately ventilated 5 gallon bin with an inch of coconut fiber substrate, topped with coco coir chunks, sphagnum moss, and lots of leaf litter. There are eggcrates and cardboard rolls for hides, and I'm offering dog food and fruits as the staple diet. The enclosure is very moist, and being kept at around 75F°.

Here are some pictures of a large nymph, either a pre-sub or subadult:

They are nearly black, and have some interesting ridges/texture on the exoskeleton. Can't wait to see adults in person.

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Next up got a group of Hemilepistus pavlovskii from Xinjiang, China. Unfortunately most of the group died either in transit or shortly afterwards, but luckily a 2.2 group survived, and have acclimated to their setup well. This is one of the longest terrestrial isopods, and the body shape is also very unique; they are slender and very thick shelled, with tubercles on their heads and first couple body segments. They are sexually dimorphic in coloration, with males having thin white margins on their body segments, and an overall lighter grey coloration, compared to the slighter darker females that lack any white segment margins.

This is a temperate Chinese species, hailing from arid desert habitats with clay based soils. As such they like a dry setup with good ventilation, and a clay based substrate. They seem to eat the clay, and likely incorporate the minerals into their very thick exoskeletons.

I have mine in a well ventilated 3 gallon bin with a few inches of clay soil, topped with leaf litter and a partially buried cork bark tube. I'm keeping two opposite corners humid, the rest bone dry, and am offering them calcium carbonate chunks and fish pellets as supplemental food. I keep them at around 75F° most of the year, but am providing them with a mild winter diapause, since they are a temperate Chinese species (so they're currently at around 60F°).

Here are some pictures of an adult male:

Shortly after putting them into diapause, it would appear my females started showing some development in their marsupiums, so I am hopeful they will give birth by Spring! 🤞 Would be amazing to get these established in the US hobby!

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I also got a small group of around 8 Pseudoglomeris angustifolia, a black and punctate Pseudoglomeris species that is unique in being only one of two species in the genus with brachyapterous males. Care seems similar to P.tarsalis, but being a temperate Chinese species a winter diapause is seemingly required for the health of the colony.

I have mine in a well ventilated enclosure with a thin layer of coconut fiber substrate, one third kept moist, the rest dry. I've given them vertically slanted cork bark and some leaf litter for hides, and am feeding them dog food, fish pellets, artificial pollen and fruits. Right now they're in diapause at around 60F°, but come February I'll move them back to my bug room and keep them at around 75F° (temps in the 80+ range don't appear to be favorable for any of the temperate Chinese Pseudoglomeris spp.).

Here are some pictures of one of the nymphs:

Here's hoping they'll mature successfully and breed!

I had also received a small group of P.beybeinkoi, but sadly those did not acclimate nearly as well from the shipping stress, and died not too long after arrival. 

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Finally for roaches, I was also sent several oothecae of a Blattid as a freebie, presumably a Chinese species. Unfortunately the container was unlabeled, sent as a surprise, and neither the person I received them from or I really have any idea what they are (nor was I able to get any locality data). All but one of the ooths were completely rotted, and the one decent ooth hatched in transit, only two of those nymphs survived.

Crazily enough, those two nymphs are a sexed pair, and I think are nearing maturity. Still no idea what they are, but I may be able to find out once they mature. 🤞

Here are some pictures of one of these mystery nymphs:

Hopefully they will mature successfully and then breed for me, I'll be sure to keep y'all posted!

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Lastly, I received 5 larvae of a species of Eocyphogenia (no locality other than China sadly). These are a neat species of darkling, and this is a rare opportunity for me, as exotic darkling beetles are few and far between in culture.

I've been rearing them in a similar fashion to how I rear Cryptoglossini, isolated in 2 oz deli cups with a mix of coco fiber and sand, kept semi-humid, and fed dog food/fish pellets. I've been keeping them at around 75F°, though I may raise the temperatures to induce more successful pupation.

So far three larvae have made pupal cells, one sadly died in the prepupal stage for no apparent reason, and another died as a pupa. One is still in the pre-pupal stage, and two more larvae are still growing. It would appear that either more heat, specific humidity, or perhaps a more sand based substrate may be required for successful pupation.

Here are some pictures of a large larva:

These are not going to be large beetles, comparable in size to a more medium sized Eleodes, hopefully I can indeed rear the remaining three to adulthood though, and then luck out with getting a pair and breeding them too. 🤞

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