Armadillidium maculatum chocolate zebra

[moricollins]

Hi everyone, question: how "Brown" do Armadillidium maculatum need to be in order to be considered "chocolate zebra"?
My colony routinely produces some quite brown isopods so I wondered if there was an accepted way to classify chocolate versus regular ...

 

[Arthroverts]

Well, first you have to fill out the International Isopod Society's (IIS) Standardized Morph Isolation and Declaration Protocol Permit Paper (SMIDPPP), then take a 360º High Resolution Full Color (HRFC) image of the isopod(s) in question, get 4 DNA samples from the isopod(s), and then submit these photos and samples along with the SMIDPPP to the Society and wait 7 to 14 business days for the information to be processed. Once you have received a mark of certification, you will have to submit what's called a Morph Gradation Ticket+ to the IIS's Color Variation and Morph Determination Department and wait another 7-14 days for them to grade the color intensity and variation on the isopods in question. Most non-professional's only achieve a 30% to 43% Gradation just because the amount of time and supplemental food required to get even to the 80% percent mark is simply beyond them. After this, you resubmit the Certification of Color Variation Gradation with the SMIDPPP, HRFC's, and DNA samples to the IIS's main department, who will then take another 7 to 14 days to process and confirm that you are indeed in the possession of the correct morph. Once this is done, you have to pay a mere $50 USD ($65.28 CAD) to get a 20 stamps of Certification to be sent with all outgoing sales and to be placed on any and all cages in which said morph will occupy. You see, it really isn't all that difficult, but with new species they have to go through some extra permitting and confirming and certifying and resubmitting, so that's why so many species of Cubaris* sp. are so expensive.

Anyway, hope this helps,

Arthroverts

*Certified Cubaris by the International Isopod Society and its related affiliates. Please do not copy or sell morphs without first confirming that the IIS and/or its affiliates have certified said morph and cleared it for international trade as according to APHIS, USDA, USFWS, UN, NATO, PETA, etc. regulations.

 

[moricollins]

No one else with any thoughts?

 

[Polenth]

There's not really anything else to say. There is no set standard for how brown they have to be. If they look like the pictures you've seen, you could describe them as chocolate if you like. But for trading/selling purposes, you'd want to isolate the brown ones and have them breeding true.

 

[moricollins]

There's not really anything else to say. There is no set standard for how brown they have to be. If they look like the pictures you've seen, you could describe them as chocolate if you like. But for trading/selling purposes, you'd want to isolate the brown ones and have them breeding true.

Thanks. I have them separated so time will tell if they breed true

 

[StampFan]

I was wondering the same question the other day, I've got a few that are light brown and look amazing in the big population.