Vonones Set Completion, & Big PP Isopods

Alan Spring 2022 Package Series Pt. 3/3

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Once again, Alan's collected me some awesome new harvestmen, I now have the second US Vonones species, Vonones sayi from Bibb County Glades, AL. Once again though, it's a single pair, so we'll see if I get lucky again with them being a sexed pair, like the V.ornata "Ocala, FL" Alan sent me previously (their culture is booming BTW!).

I've got them set up in a minimally ventilated container with a layer of coconut fiber as the substrate, with leaf litter, moss and a corkboard hide for cover. They've got some live Compsodes in there for possible food, and I'm also offering dog food and fruits. Keeping them at around 74F°, and quite humid.

Now for some pictures... My camera did NOT want to focus on it:

Not the best pics but hopefully y'all got the point. Happy to have both US native Vonones species, hopefully I'll establish a colony of these sayi no problem if they are indeed a sexed pair! 😁 🤞

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Last but not least, these are probably the coolest inverts I got in this package from Alan. Behold, the US native, probably undescribed Porcellionides sp. "Big Pine Key, FL"! 😁 These beauties were collected by Alan a while ago, and thank God he established a culture of them, because sadly the area they were collected from has since been control burned... It's unknown where any still survive on Big Pine Key... 😢 This is why getting species into captive culture and keeping them established via captive breeding can be so important, oftentimes we lose species of invertebrates (and other fauna and flora) before we even know they exist...

I've got my dozen or so housed in a very well ventilated enclosure with a thin layer of coconut fiber as the substrate. I've got bark on top for hides, and leaf litter for food. I'm keeping most of the enclosure dry, with a moist corner with some damp moss for moisture. I'm keeping them at around 74-76F°. Apparently this species does best kept like Spanish Porcellio spp.. Hopefully I'm on the right track, one of the gravid ones Alan sent already gave birth and the babies have been doing great so far! 😄

Here are some pictures of my group, it's quite a polymorphic species and the color variation is insane! But first, a look at how Alan labeled their deli cup...

Alan can give anyone some serious PP envy... PP standing for "Pine Porcellio" obvs, what did you think I meant? 🤔 😂

Even that last individual with no yellow on it looks pretty, and the high yellow ones? Prettiest isopods in the hobby IMO! 😍 Hopefully these do well for me and do great in the hobby in general, since now that this specific locality at least may have been wiped out from the wild by the fire, we need as many people succeeding with these as possible!

Anyways, that's gonna do it for this series of posts, thanks so much Alan Jeon for sending me these awesome new species! 😁 And thank y'all for reading, hope everyone enjoyed, stay safe, and I'll see you all next time! 😉