Sexing Isopods: Orange Albino Oniscus asellus

tyrel

Arachnobaron
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Oct 24, 2005
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I found a highly unusual specimen of Oniscus asellus in the woods the other day. Bright orange, rather than the usual grey. I'd like to try isolating the gene, but I'm having a little trouble determining its gender.

Most of its neighbors were more obviously male or female, but with this individual, it's a little harder to tell:





 

The wolf

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I currently have a red armadillidium vulgare which im sure is a similar case but i think iread somewhere that it occurs in relation to moulting so it might not be a genetic mutation but dont quote me on that and good luck :)
 

tyrel

Arachnobaron
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I did some comparisons today, and I've come to the conclusion that this individual is female. It turns out there's a surprising amount of variation in pleopod shape between individuals.
 

Aquarimax

Arachnoprince
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I did some comparisons today, and I've come to the conclusion that this individual is female. It turns out there's a surprising amount of variation in pleopod shape between individuals.
Beautiful specimen, I hope you can isolate the strain!
 

Hisserdude

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Looks female to me! Very nice morph, good luck isolating them! :D One day I want to cross a bright orange morph with my "Mardi Gras Dalmatian" Oniscus asellus, to see if I can create some "Orange Dalmatians", like some people have done with Porcellio scaber! :)
 

LawnShrimp

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Dec 9, 2016
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Looks female to me! Very nice morph, good luck isolating them! :D One day I want to cross a bright orange morph with my "Mardi Gras Dalmatian" Oniscus asellus, to see if I can create some "Orange Dalmatians", like some people have done with Porcellio scaber! :)
Right! And then we cross orange laevis with Dairy Cow laevis, and piebald muscorum with orange muscorum, and....
I found a highly unusual specimen of Oniscus asellus in the woods the other day. Bright orange, rather than the usual grey. I'd like to try isolating the gene, but I'm having a little trouble determining its gender.

Most of its neighbors were more obviously male or female, but with this individual, it's a little harder to tell:
I say it's female. A shame too, as she can only parent one litter at a time, but a recessive male can father dozens of litters with any females. Still, if you caught its neighbors, perhaps some of them carry the gene too and can be bred with it to produce oranges faster than choosing random individuals.

Good luck with your project! Isolating morphs is a lot of fun!
 

Dark

Arachnobaron
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Dec 15, 2003
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Since you only have one I'd say stick it in a container with a few others (normal colored ones) and then remove the babies. Of course if any of the babies are orange you can isolate those and within a generation or two you should have a few specimens to work with.
 

LittleOddIsopod

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Dec 22, 2017
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I currently have a red armadillidium vulgare which im sure is a similar case but i think iread somewhere that it occurs in relation to moulting so it might not be a genetic mutation but dont quote me on that and good luck :)
Mind sending me a pic of it? I am very interested in Vulgare morphs (check out my other posts to see what I’m working on).
 

The wolf

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Terrible lighting she is a lot redder in person,I just looked in the beetle enclosure she was in and there are little red babies everywhere so I will be working to isolate this and have a red breeding colony
 

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LittleOddIsopod

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Dec 22, 2017
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Terrible lighting she is a lot redder in person,I just looked in the beetle enclosure she was in and there are little red babies everywhere so I will be working to isolate this and have a red breeding colony
Cool! Mind taking a picture in natural lighting later? I’d love to see a good picture and compare. I have a couple Vulgare that look similar in color (unless it’s just due to bad lighting).
 

The wolf

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Cool! Mind taking a picture in natural lighting later? I’d love to see a good picture and compare. I have a couple Vulgare that look similar in color (unless it’s just due to bad lighting).
If you search Armadillidium Vulgare red mine looks pretty much like the first picture although you might get different search results
 

LawnShrimp

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Dec 9, 2016
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If you search Armadillidium Vulgare red mine looks pretty much like the first picture although you might get different search results
The one you have is definitely true-breeding so look for more!
Cool! Mind taking a picture in natural lighting later? I’d love to see a good picture and compare. I have a couple Vulgare that look similar in color (unless it’s just due to bad lighting).
I love vulgare because of how large and shiny they can get but the only ones I've ever seen are the standard gray. Red vulgare are way more common in the UK (probably because they are native there so they have more chance of carrying rare genes) than in the States although I have heard of a few. I think the genetic diversity of vulgare is much higher in the westernmost states do to the vulgare there being introduced from Spain, so red vulgare in Arizona would make sense.
 

The wolf

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The one you have is definitely true-breeding so look for more!

I love vulgare because of how large and shiny they can get but the only ones I've ever seen are the standard gray. Red vulgare are way more common in the UK (probably because they are native there so they have more chance of carrying rare genes) than in the States although I have heard of a few. I think the genetic diversity of vulgare is much higher in the westernmost states do to the vulgare there being introduced from Spain, so red vulgare in Arizona would make sense.
What do you mean by true breeding?
I would agree that they are a lot commoner as they are The only colour morph I ever see
 

LawnShrimp

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Dec 9, 2016
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What do you mean by true breeding?
I would agree that they are a lot commoner as they are The only colour morph I ever see
True-breeding as in the offspring display the same traits as the parents. Some morphs in animals are just genetic mistakes that can't be passed down and in isopods, some individuals with normal genes appear reddish but do not actually posses red genes.
 
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