However, Kyle at Roachcrossing was successful in crossing a male P.vanwaerebeki "Androhamana" to a female P.vanwaerebeki "Big/Black"... I eventually got some of the progeny of that cross, and those of use working with them are all selecting for the most "Androhamana" looking adults to hopefully isolate a line that's as close to that locality stock as possible, at least until we can get real ones again...
Here are some pictures of one of the more vibrant, but typical looking males:
Now that one's a looker for sure, buuuuuut it's not quite what I'm looking for, I want more defined orange striping that goes across the entire abdomen.
THIS is a lot closer to what I'm looking for:
And so this is one of the few males I have left in my main colony. Most of the females in there look pretty faithful to those of the Androhamana line, though I had to cull some more "Big/Black" looking ones for sure. Hopefully with enough time and selective breeding, we can get a line that looks a lot more like true Androhamana, and breeds true for said coloration. 🤞
We also need a better working strain name than "Androhamana x Big/Black", so I hope Kyle figures that out soon... 😆
A few months back, Alan Jeon sent me some Philolithus cf. morbillosus from Animas, NM. Now, Asidini in general are reportedly a pain to rear, not only are adults often quite picky about their oviposition medium, but the larvae tend to be cannibalistic and have a lot of the same hurdles in rearing that Cryptoglossini have. However, unlike Cryptoglossini, Asidini adults tend to be very seasonal, and only live a few months max. So not a great tribe for captive rearing, however I figured I may as well give it the ol' college try. 😅
I put my adults in a well ventilated shoebox, filled with fine sand and clay mixture (much more sand than clay), and kept a third of the enclosure moist, the rest dry. I fed them dog food and kept them at around 75-85F°. The adults lived for a couple months and did actually lay eggs, which were quite large and deposited singly in both the moist and dry areas (though they seemed to prefer substrate that was compacted for laying).
The eggs took a few weeks to hatch, and so far the larvae seem quite slow growing, but not very cannibalistic (yet). They spend most of their time in the dryest sand, and more rarely on the border between the dry and moist area.
Here are some pictures of a dead adult (because I didn't get around to getting photos of them before they kicked it) and a larvae:
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| Adult |
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| Larva |
I guess we'll see just how easy these really are to rear, I'll be surprised if I get any to maturity with what I've heard about them, but I guess we'll see!
My Ergaula silphoides "Old Hobby Stock" (ex. pilosa) have been popping off, and I finally got around to getting some photos of an adult pair, which I'll show off here.
Before that though, I feel like I never clarified the taxonomy situation on these past this post, which is now a little outdated IMO. So I guess I'll give a quick rundown on why I think they are E.silphoides:
- For one, size, morphology, and patterning fits that species the best IMO, we have seen confirmed silphoides out of Thailand and they look identical to this old hobby stock.
- Secondly, I find the supposed locality for this old hobby stock, "Borneo", to be a bit dubious. There is nothing quite like these recorded from Borneo, the only other described species of Ergaula found there (besides E.pilosa, which we have established these are NOT), is E.funebris, which I had my doubts about being the identity for this stock, as I pointed out in my previous post addressing this subject. I think it's more likely that a mistake was made and that these actually came out of Thailand (which is certainly possible since we had several species enter culture from Thailand around that time, and importers/exporters mess up the labeling of their stocks and where they came from all the time).
- If we are to assume they came from Thailand (or at least that the supposed locality of "Borneo" is incorrect), then they should definitely be silphoides . That and matching them in every way in terms of morphology, coloration, and size, makes the identity pretty clear IMO.
- For a MUCH better rundown that goes into more detail, please see my friend Martin's blog post on the subject here.
Anyways, here are those pictures:
A big and very prolific, hardy species of Corydiid. IMO E.capucina are prettier, but these were definitely a neat addition to the hobby.
My Euthlastoblatta sp. "Miramar Beach, FL" have been doing quite well, and I already have F1 adults! Expecting F2 to start hatching out within the next few months, and then maybe I can finally make the fabled "Southern Belle Roach" available.
Here are pics of a large nymph:
Not the best photos, but their glossy texture and refusal to sit still doesn't make it easy... 😅 I'm so glad these are doing well for me, hopefully we can keep them established in the hobby going forward!
Lastly, quite a while ago I got some Cubaris sp. "Panda King - Red" from Tennyson Kingsley, which at the time were throwing out some more random morphs. I was able to get the Reds breeding true after minimal isolation, however they do still throw out solid orange, so called "Citrus" morph individuals (which after conversation with other isopod breeders, seems to be standard for all "Red" colonies).
I am working on isolating a colony of the Citrus morph as well, because why not?
I have my Red Pandas in a gallon shoebox with moderate ventilation, and an inch or so of coco fiber substrate, topped with leaf litter and bark. I am feeding them dog food as their supplemental diet, am keeping the enclosure moist, and at around 75F.
Here are some photos of them:
A striking morph for sure! 😄
Anyways, that's gonna do it for this post, thanks for reading, I hope everyone enjoyed, and I'll see you all next time! 😉
