How I found and lost an awesome colour morph (isopod)

[MattRess]

I didn't realise how facinating isopods are until I got some P. laevis as a clean up crew. So I've been gathering wild isopods and plan to breed some colours, if I find some cool looking ones.
In the north of England, you are likely to find Oniscus asellus, Porcellio scaber and Philoscia muscorum. O. asellus massively outnumber the other two species.
So I've been turning logs in the local wood and set up some paving slabs under the hedge in my garden to attract them both have been pretty sucessful as I have some booming cultures of all three species.
So today I go out to check under the slabs and there is a P. muscorum and a P. scaber. I quickly grab both and put them in a shallow deli cup. The P. muscorum looks pretty average but the P. scaber is an awesome mottled red/brown and grey. The usual scabers are slate grey in my area. This picture I found on the internet is pretty similar to what it looked like but much darker, almost burgundy.
So I put the cup down and turn over another slab and I somehow manage to fall backwards, knocking the cup over. And of course, the scaber is gone. My garden is gravelled so I have no chance of finding it but I still try and sweep the gravel away. No luck. But hey, at least I have another P. muscorum
I've put out a cucumber trap and hopefully it goes in it, but if not, its not a disaster. It might breed and produce some that look like it, or maybe some of the scabers I have already caught are related and carry the same gene. Still, its kind of disheartening to have the first abnormal coloured isopod I caught escape.

 

[Trevors]

The picture you posted is an orange calico P. scaber. Calicos come in 3 colors orange, yellow and red. Sounds like you almost had a red calico. I have a bunch of orange and yellow calicos. I've never seen a red calico.
One thing you'll want to know if you catch some to start breeding. Only females get the calico coloration, males can carry the calico gene but look normal. When i first started gathering calicos i made the mistake of only putting calicos in my bin. Which meant i only had females and no breeding.

 

[Jurdon]

You’ll find another. Calico scabers are unbelievably common (at least as far as morphs go) and in my experience, reds are the most prevalent. If all else fails, you could be able to snag some from a fellow iso hobbyist/breeder, seeing as scabers and their morphs are a staple in any isopod collection. Maybe you can have yourself a pokémon-style adventure and find/isolate all the calico variants! (I’m actually doing that right now! )

 

[MattRess]

Y

You’ll find another. Calico scabers are unbelievably common (at least as far as morphs go) and in my experience, reds are the most prevalent. If all else fails, you could be able to snag some from a fellow iso hobbyist/breeder, seeing as scabers and their morphs are a staple in any isopod collection. Maybe you can have yourself a pokémon-style adventure and find/isolate all the calico variants! (I’m actually doing that right now! )

Yeah I actually think I have a calico in my "unidentified" isopod container. I put all isopods that are too small to identify in it and wait for them to grow larger. It is more of a dull yellow than the burgandy of the one that got away, but still looks pretty cool.

 

[MattRess]

The picture you posted is an orange calico P. scaber. Calicos come in 3 colors orange, yellow and red. Sounds like you almost had a red calico. I have a bunch of orange and yellow calicos. I've never seen a red calico.
One thing you'll want to know if you catch some to start breeding. Only females get the calico coloration, males can carry the calico gene but look normal. When i first started gathering calicos i made the mistake of only putting calicos in my bin. Which meant i only had females and no breeding.

Thanks for the info. I would have probably made the same mistake too.
Maybe the male not showing the calico characteristics is why calico is a fairly common morph, since they won't have the disadvantage of having a noticable pattern.

 

[Jurdon]

Maybe the male not showing the calico characteristics is why calico is a fairly common morph, since they won't have the disadvantage of having a noticable pattern.

Funny you mention that, while what you said is undoubtedly true, “my” calicos survived in pretty much the oopposite fashion. The starting members of my calico culture were found in my grandmother’s yard, in New York. She had this little patch of red rocks, I wouldn’t exactly call it a garden, but she planted some bushes and tall grasses in it, and under the rocks were isopods, patterned exactly like the stones they hid under. I was amazed! I took some of the rocks home, just to decorate the bin I’d be keeping them in, and still today I’m amazed that under semi-natural circumstances, a population of calico scabers was isolated by my grandma, albeit unknowingly. What’s even more amazing is that yellow & orange calicos didn’t show up in my culture until some months later, leading me to believe that only the reds blended in well enough to be present in numbers as great as they were.

 

[MattRess]

Funny you mention that, while what you said is undoubtedly true, “my” calicos survived in pretty much the oopposite fashion. The starting members of my calico culture were found in my grandmother’s yard, in New York. She had this little patch of red rocks, I wouldn’t exactly call it a garden, but she planted some bushes and tall grasses in it, and under the rocks were isopods, patterned exactly like the stones they hid under. I was amazed! I took some of the rocks home, just to decorate the bin I’d be keeping them in, and still today I’m amazed that under semi-natural circumstances, a population of calico scabers was isolated by my grandma, albeit unknowingly. What’s even more amazing is that yellow & orange calicos didn’t show up in my culture until some months later, leading me to believe that only the reds blended in well enough to be present in numbers as great as they were.

Huh, thats pretty cool. I wonder if placing some calicos under some really red/orange/yellow rocks would end up with future generations having super intense colour due to natural selection.

 

[Jurdon]

Huh, thats pretty cool. I wonder if placing some calicos under some really red/orange/yellow rocks would end up with future generations having super intense colour due to natural selection.

Idk, I feel like that could work, but due to a lack of predators, it’d be less natural selection and more “interior decorating to match your isopods’ looks”

 

[MattRess]

Idk, I feel like that could work, but due to a lack of predators, it’d be less natural selection and more “interior decorating to match your isopods’ looks”

Oh I meant placing the rocks in a woodland or hedgerow area and releasing the calicos under them so predators could eat the ones that don't blend in.
The idea definately won't work in an tub if nothing is eating them.
Looking back at my comment, I think I did a pretty poor job of explaining the idea.
Also found this, I think is a yellow calico scaber, but I'm not a 100%. Its only about 5mm long. What do you think it is?

 

[Jurdon]

Oh I meant placing the rocks in a woodland or hedgerow area and releasing the calicos under them so predators could eat the ones that don't blend in.
The idea definately won't work in an tub if nothing is eating them.
Looking back at my comment, I think I did a pretty poor job of explaining the idea.
Also found this, I think is a yellow calico scaber, but I'm not a 100%. Its only about 5mm long. What do you think it is?
View attachment 271146

My bad, misunderstood what you were suggesting. That’s an interesting proposition! My idea would be to “prey upon” scabers that don’t blend in by transferring ones that stick out against the terrain and putting them in a “throwaway” colony of sorts. And yep, that looks to be a yellow! They’re honestly my favorite variety of calico, something about that unpredictable mottling and sandy coloration is so beautiful to me.