Therea sp. "Pachmarhi" & Their Misidentifications...

Some of you may be aware of the colorful, long winged Therea species that entered culture overseas a few years back, from Pachmarhi, India. These have been slowly spreading throughout the hobby, and I'm happy to announce I received a small group of nymphs last year! 😄 They've been growing very well, though quite slowly, but I've finally got a mature pair now, so now I feel I can post about them! 

These have been misidentified as both T.irreperta and T.nuptialis, however the female genitalia of the sp. "Pachmarhi" do not match those of T.irreperta, and while the male nuptialis genitalia is a pretty close match for these sp. "Pachmarhi", again the female genitalia differ. 

However, there is a significant issue here... the only rendering we have of the genitalia of T.nuptialis comes from a paper by Grandcolas, and he did not examine the type specimen itself... rather he examined the genitalia of a few individuals from a small area (Chilika Lake). The locality of the type specimen is, unfortunately, unknown. 😩 And as Chih-Ting Hsu pointed out in my conversation with him regarding this situation, there was a species, "Corydia gueriniana", which is now a junior synonym of T.nuptialis. Since the genitalia of that species were never described, we don't really know if that species was correctly synonymized. 

This is an issue because the type locality of "C.gueriniana" was originally listed as "Indes orientales; Sangor dans l’intérieur des Indes", which is "Sagar" in Madhya Pradesh nowadays. Sagar is about 150 km from Pachmarhi, which is not very far considering the lack of a significant geographical barrier between those areas, and the fact that adults of these long winged Therea are capable of flight and thus further dispersal than the shorter winged spp.. So chances are that Therea sp. "Pachmarhi" might be conspecific with "Corydia gueriniana", which may or may not have been correctly synonymized with T.nuptialis...

All of this to say, until further work is done on the genus (preferably a thorough revision of T.nuptialis with a comparison between the type specimen and that of the now synonymized "C.gueriniana"), we should simply be labeling these as Therea sp. "Pachmarhi, India", which is what I shall be doing. 😄

I've got mine housed in a well ventilated container with a couple inches of coco fiber, with a little bit of sand and sawdust mixed in, topped with leaf litter. I'm keeping them on a 50/50 humidity gradient, at around 80-85F°. I'm offering dog food as the staple diet, and some apple slices for the adults.

Here are some pictures of my individuals, as well as pictures of the genitalia of sp. "Pachmarhi" courtesy of Chih-Ting Hsu (and figures of the genitalia of nuptialis and irreperta for comparison):

Medium nymph

Adult male

Adult female

Adult pair

Phone pics of adult pair

Male sp. "Pachmarhi" genitalia ©️Chih-Ting Hsu

Female sp. "Pachmarhi" genitalia ©️Chih-Ting Hsu

T.nuptialis genitalia (male fig. 14, female fig. 19), & T.irreperta genitalia (female bottom)

It will be interesting to see what these end up being identified as in the future! But for now, whatever they are, I can definitely say they are an absolutely stunning new addition to culture, and one I hope will breed well for me over the coming months! 😍 

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

Panesthia angustipennis spadica, Cancun Cockroaches & More!

I've had Panesthia angustipennis spadica in my collection for a couple years now, and have FINALLY gotten around to posting about them! 🤣 I've had adults since last year, and said adults have already bred, but I've just not gotten around to getting decent pictures of them until now. 

Up until I gave Kyle a starter culture earlier this year, I was the only person working with these in the states. They are very slow growing and breeding compared to the other angustipennis subspecies in the hobby, and seem to have smaller broods as well. This species sports jet black coloration, with no colorful patterns on the nymphs at any life stage (though L1-L2 nymphs have orange legs). They are also the largest of the angustipennis subspecies, at least in culture, maxing out a little larger than P.a.angustipennis and way bigger than P.a.cognata.

I have mine in a minimally ventilated 5 gallon bin filled with aged sawdust substrate, with some larger white and brown rot wood chunks buried in there. I keep them quite humid, at around 75-80F°, and I'm feeding them dog food and apple as their supplemental diet.

Adult female

Phone pics of babies

Anyways, looking forward to producing more litters from these and getting them more firmly established in US culture! 😄

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The GOAT Alan Jeon sent me a great many things last month, with this pair of Pseudophyllodromiidae sp. "Cancun, MX" being one of the most precious. This species has very ornately patterned nymphs, and the adults really remind me of a pretty Balta or more monotone Ellipsidion species. This species is brand new to culture, and I may or may not be the only person with a breedable culture left (Kyle had some but seems he may have failed with his, unless they produced some ooths he's unaware of). So far mine seem to be doing well, so fingers crossed I can establish a colony! 🤞 

I've got mine in a well ventilated gallon jar with a thin layer of coco fiber substrate, topped with coco coir chunks, artificial foliage and cardboard roll hides. I'm aiming for a 50/50 humidity gradient (more vertical than horizontal at this point), have them at around 80-85F°, and am feeding them dog food, artificial pollen and fresh fruits.

Adult male

Phone pics of female producing ooth

My female has produced at least three oothecae so far, very large ones too (the one pictured is about the length of her abdomen!). So fingers crossed I'll find hatchlings within the next month or two, and get a thriving colony established!

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Speaking of Ellipsidion... after decades of US hobbyists pining for them, we finally have Ellipsidion amplum in culture! 😄 Big thanks to Kyle for sending me a dozen or so nymphs, which I will need to get some decent pics of soon, as their coloration is stunning (and variable). Two males have matured so far (and I did get pics of one of those), supposedly this is a rather prolific and easy species to breed, as long as you get the humidity right (high air humidity, low surface moisture).

I've got mine in a well ventilated gallon jar with a thin layer of coco fiber substrate, topped with coco coir chunks, artificial foliage and cardboard roll hides. I'm aiming for a 50/50 humidity gradient (more vertical than horizontal at this point), have them at around 80-85F°, and am feeding them dog food, artificial pollen and fresh fruits.

Phone pics of an adult male

Roach hobbyists are eating GOOD this year in terms of new hobby additions, so many beautiful and long sought after species, finally entering the hobby. Now here's hoping we can keep them around! 😄

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Earlier this Summer, Kyle gave me some Entomobryoides cf. dissimilis "Livonia, MI", a last minute addition to the assortment of bugs I brought back from my visit to his place. I threw them in with my Megaloblatta blaberoides and kinda forgot about them, that is until they became firmly established in that bin. 😄 I've since moved them to a bin of their own, as well as a few other roach setups, they seem a nice, steady but not explosive breeder, and pretty large too. I can definitely see them being a good CUC species (they certainly seem to be playing the part nicely in my Megaloblatta bin). 

This species seems to prefer a humid, but not overly moist environment, with bark being their preferred surface area. Breeds at a wide variety of temps, and feeds on normal springtail foods.

Definitely glad I added these to my collection, here's hoping they'll stick around!

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Lastly, my next generation of Hemiblabera brunneri "Manati, PR" has started maturing out! They've proven pretty easy to rear, and my original female has given birth to three broods total so far. With husbandry this simple and patterning this striking, these are sure to become a hobby staple over the coming years. 😁

Phone pics of adult males

Such a stunning new addition to the hobby, Hemiblabera in general are really slept on, but I'm hoping additions like these H.brunneri (and the other new species from PR, that I haven't posted about yet... 👀) will help to change that.

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