Mariamatic
Arachnopeon
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2018
- Messages
- 10
Hi guys! This is actually my first post here, though I've read this forum a lot for care advice for my millis.
To get straight to the point, I came home after work today and found two of my millipedes of different species breeding (picture attached). The millipedes in question are a female Madagascan Fire Millipede (Aphistogoniulus corralipes) and a male Vietnam Rainbow (Tonkinbolus dollfusi). I was very surprised, since I have a female Rainbow in the same tank, and she was out and about while this was going on, so I would have thought the male would be more interested in her. I keep most of my millis together in one big exo-terra terrarium, and they all seem to get along well enough so it's never been an issue. But maybe they're getting along too well? I never imagined the different species would be able to breed at all, since the sizes and gonopod configuration is pretty different. But as it turns out, those two species are from different genus but the same family (pachybolidae) so they are more closely related than I thought.
I'm wondering what are the chances of the offspring being viable? I would be extremely interested to see what they would look like. I never really made an effort to breed my other millipedes since I live in a shoebox apartment and don't really have the space for endless racks of insect babies, but I'm wondering if I should take the fire milli out and keep her separate to see if she lays any eggs. Or is it basically impossible that the eggs will actually be fertilized?
Pic related, there they are after I moved their log away for the camera. And my A. gigas just sitting there watching this degeneracy.
https://imgur.com/a/FEX6Yfr
To get straight to the point, I came home after work today and found two of my millipedes of different species breeding (picture attached). The millipedes in question are a female Madagascan Fire Millipede (Aphistogoniulus corralipes) and a male Vietnam Rainbow (Tonkinbolus dollfusi). I was very surprised, since I have a female Rainbow in the same tank, and she was out and about while this was going on, so I would have thought the male would be more interested in her. I keep most of my millis together in one big exo-terra terrarium, and they all seem to get along well enough so it's never been an issue. But maybe they're getting along too well? I never imagined the different species would be able to breed at all, since the sizes and gonopod configuration is pretty different. But as it turns out, those two species are from different genus but the same family (pachybolidae) so they are more closely related than I thought.
I'm wondering what are the chances of the offspring being viable? I would be extremely interested to see what they would look like. I never really made an effort to breed my other millipedes since I live in a shoebox apartment and don't really have the space for endless racks of insect babies, but I'm wondering if I should take the fire milli out and keep her separate to see if she lays any eggs. Or is it basically impossible that the eggs will actually be fertilized?
Pic related, there they are after I moved their log away for the camera. And my A. gigas just sitting there watching this degeneracy.
https://imgur.com/a/FEX6Yfr
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