Wednesday, March 18, 2020

A Confusing Taxonomy Disscusion: Gromphadorhina sp. "grandidieri" "Black Tiger"

Oh jeez where do I even start with this one... So first of all, let's use Kyle Kandilian's Gromphadorhina sp. "Black Tiger" strain as the model, "pure" line of this morph OK? Because they are probably as pure as it gets what with Kyle being as meticulous about hisser purity as he is, (which is a good thing).

So, obviously true Gromphadorhina grandidieri aren't in the hobby, even though one could argue that the black "Gromphadorhina grandidieri" are close in coloration to this female museum specimen, the holotype male of G.grandidieri is described as having a black thorax and a "purplish brown" abdomen, much like this wild specimen which is presumed to be actual grandidieri:

Wild male G.grandidieri. ©George Beccaloni
So right off the bat, I propose pure "grandidieri" strains in the hobby be labeled Gromphadorhina sp. "Tiger", and Gromphadorhina sp. "Black Tiger". Both are assumed to be the same species, whatever they are, as supposedly the "Black Tiger" morph was isolated from a colony of the regular "Tiger" strain... Whether this is actually true, who knows, I think it was too long ago and too poorly documented to verify. Nowadays, jet black individuals seldom, if ever pop up in normal "Tiger" colonies, so I'm a bit skeptical, but nonetheless, for clarity's sake, let's assume that Kyle's "Black Tiger" strain is indeed an isolated morph of pure sp. "Tiger".

Pure Gromphadorhina sp. "Tiger" ©Roachcrossing 
Pure Gromphadorhina sp. "Black Tiger" ©Roachcrossing
So now that we've established the basics of what's in the hobby and where the original "Black Tiger" strain came from, we shall move on to today's horrible reality... Are you ready? Are you sure? OK, here we go: people have been labeling any and all black hisser strains as "Black Tigers"... Probably for years now. 😐 Most of the "Black Tigers" on the market today probably aren't even the "Tiger" hisser species, many are just line bred G.portentosa G."portentosa" mutts...
So now we're in a situation where, unless the person is meticulous with their line tracing and preventing contamination of their own colonies, and can track their lines back to Kyle's or from wherever Kyle got his from, there's really no way to be sure your "Black Tiger" colonies are actually "Black Tiger" colonies or black hybrid/mutt colonies... In which case you should default to calling them hybrids. 

They didn't name the morph "Black Tiger" for the heck of it, that was to signify that is was a morph of the G.sp. "TIGER" rather than a black "portentosa" strain... If you start calling every black hisser a black tiger, then the name loses all meaning... Unfortunately that's what has happened, so that's fantastic... 🙄 

So Kyle's colony may be the last pure, REAL "Black Tiger" colony in existence, (or at least seems to be from the original "Black Tiger" stock, whatever species it actually was), hopefully more hobbyists can get some from him in the future, then sell them as *Pure* sp. "Black Tiger"...
Of course they'll probably keep labeling them as "G.grandidieri", which is kinda stupid, but at least that mistake is better than labeling "portentosa" mutts as "Black Tiger"... 😂 

EDIT 12/5/2020: Recent examination on my part and a conversation with George Beccaloni leads me to believe our hobby "Tiger" line is indeed not Gromphadorhina grandidieri, but rather a distinct line or subspecies of Princisia vanwaerebeki. Read more about that HERE.

EDIT 6/18/2022: Nope, not even Kyle's stock are actual Black "Tigers", they look like line bred black hybrids to me. Read more about it HERE.
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9 comments:

  1. KoAMarch 19, 2020 at 4:03 PM

    A fine pickle it seems. Do you see this as being a real issue in the conservation of this(these) species moving forward as Madagascar's ecosystem likely becomes further degraded?

    Thanks,

    Arthroverts

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    1. Invertebrate DudeMarch 19, 2020 at 5:13 PM

      Most definitely, hybrids, especially mislabeled ones pose the biggest threat to the preservation of pure hisser species in captivity.

      Most hissers are easy to breed, and even the finicky ones have still been around for decades, it's the introduction of other species and hybrids to the bloodlines, or the market getting flooded with mislabeled hybrids that actually poses a threat to these species in captivity. Unfortunately that's already happening, so dedicated keepers must take care if they want to preserve each unique strain of hisser, by buying from trusted sources, doing basic line tracing, as well as careful comparison of their individuals to images of pure stock.

      The more mislabeled hybrids out there, the less variety of species this hobby is gonna have, I for one feel it would be a huge shame NOT to have the choice of keeping several very distinct lines, each with their own morphology, stunning coloration, husbandry, etc., and end up with only a selection of hybrids that usually pale in comparison to their parent stocks in appearance, and have generally lost their unique features...

      Delete
  2. KoAMarch 23, 2020 at 10:36 PM

    Argh. That really is quite disheartening.

    Do you have any recommendations for sources of pure Hissers (any and all species) besides Roach Crossing?

    Thanks,

    Arthroverts

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Invertebrate DudeMarch 24, 2020 at 7:36 PM

      All of Brandon Maines' (Magnificent Beasts) hissers are pure, (most of them come from Kyle's stock, I believe with the exceptions of his E.chopardi, E.javanica and G.oblongonata, but all those look pure as can be). The only species he doesn't yet have are pure standard "Princisia" "Princisia -Black and White", or sp. "Black Tiger"... There's also one unidentified Gromphadorhina stock in EU culture that may be a different species than what we have, or is at least markedly different and believed to be pure...

      Delete
  3. KoAMarch 28, 2020 at 11:21 PM

    I thought "Princisia" is an invalid name though? Aren't they some sort of yet-to-be-identified Gromphadorhina?

    Thanks,

    Arthroverts

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Invertebrate DudeMarch 29, 2020 at 12:30 AM

      Oh the genus Princisia is almost certainly invalid, (an eventual synonym of Gromphadorhina I'm sure), but the species vanwaerbeki might be valid, (as valid as any other Gromphadorhina species at least).

      Delete
    2. Invertebrate DudeMarch 29, 2020 at 12:32 AM

      But for now, since Princisia hasn't been made a synynom of Gromphadorhina YET, we must still call them Princisia, or "Princisia" at least...

      Delete
  4. KoAApril 1, 2020 at 5:21 PM

    Just looked it up and apparently it hasn't been made invalid officially yet it seems. We need more blattodean taxonomists...

    Thanks,

    Arthroverts

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Invertebrate DudeApril 1, 2020 at 9:30 PM

      Yeah it's still considered a valid genus, but it really shouldn't be... The taxonomy of the entire Gromphadorhini needs an overhaul, so whenever someone gets around to making a formal revision, I'm sure they'll tackle the genus "Princisia" as well. ;)

      Delete

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