Do you know of anyone that has them for sale? Maybe your source that you got them from a year ago?
My source was myself, I was on a visit to my home country and collected legally with permits. I've seen people posting photos of them, but have no idea if anyone is offering them. My recommendation is not to buy them, because you never know if the specimens being offered are members of the same family nest.
I’m not sure what Triops you’re referring to or if it’s an abbreviation for something else, but the only Triops I know of are freshwater crustaceans, so I’d assume they wouldn’t fair well in a desert setting haha
Ah, apparently you are unaware that some Triops are only found in seasonal desert pools...
Three questions--first, do they expect seasonal rains, or is it just temperature changes? Second, do other Hemilepistus show the same parental care as reamuri? Third, could you start with juvenile male and female pairs from different nests that were old enough to leave the nest but young enough not to start their own nests? I assume they don't just keep using the same nest or the species would quickly inbreed itself to extinction.
These are beautiful! I wonder if they're common.
Good point, I had forgotten this species/genus. I collected some last year, but then I accidentally placed them over an enclosure that had a heat mat and cooked them. They really don't do well with heat.
Yes absolutely. It gets very cold in the winter (usually 8C but sometimes even 0C), and they experience occasional rain and even severe floods, as they like to nest in the banks of desert streams. Summers are of course scorching hot and dry (the isopods are active in the morning hours). The nest is warmer and protected, but some of that extreme weather is important for seasonality for sure.
I don't know, but I assume they do.
Yes and no, it's complicated because you have to catch them at the right time of the year. If you go and read the main study on H. reamuri (Phenology, Activity and Regulation of Radiation Load in the Desert Isopod, Hemilepistus reaumuri), it is mentioned there that nests keep a single reproductive pair and a family structure and members defend the entrance from intruders. However, at a certain time of the year following the seasonal phenology the nest becomes too crowded and must split. So young members leave, pair up, and establish new nests. All the nests in a given area are synchronized and do this at the same time, very similar to nuptial flights of ants and termites, so this is how they get a chance to meet members of other nests and form pairs. So ideally you would want to be in the field exactly at that time of the year to collect your breeding pairs, if you do not want to dig up an entire nest for its members.
As far as I'm aware they're common within their range but it's a relatively limited area. Only 3 states if I recall.