Looking for Spanish Blue millipedes...

[Elytra and Antenna]

I have quite a few of these, ive been keeping them quite a while now.

How many years have you had them? Any babies?

Someone gave me eight or so --from Spain-- nine years ago and they lived for a while but I didn't care much for them and they eventually died out (at the time they were just some small gray millipedes from Spain not the fanciful 'Spanish blue'). A number of hobbyists have tried them in the states and all reports I've heard is they do good for about six months and then start dying.

 

[Kevin_Davies]

I havent kept them a year yet, I got them around April, so about 7 months or so.

 

[millipeter]

Ommatoiulus rutilans is an inhabitant of the dry grasslands in Europe and is only active in the warm months of the year in contrast to most of the millipedes in Europe which are active during autumn and spring. This species lives mainly on sandy soils and is thermo- and xerophil. You have to keep them very airy and not too moist. You can try to keep just one edge of the tank moist and the rest rather try at temperatures about 20-25°C. Grass would be better than leaves as food for the Adults/juvenils. For the day this species needs a place for hiding like stones and pieces of wood. Reproduction is probably affected by the length of day and night. So a period of lighting of about 14 hours would be great for this species to simulate a European summer day. Maybe so it is possible to breed them anyhow.

In general are the millipedes of the temperate regions more difficult to keep and breed like the tropical ones cause they each live mostly in very special environments like temperature/food/moisture/soil and so on. If you don't know such informations keeping and breeding is impossible.

 

[Androctonus_bic]

I have quite a few of these, ive been keeping them quite a while now.

Me too. In my garden are full of this that is usual find some inside of my house. Sometimes are grey ( you call it blue, but they are grey) and in the south of spain are brownish. They are really easy to find and to keep. Just keep it inside of a can whit a semidesertic enviroment, and spray it onces or twice a week. ( Like S. heros).

Cheers
Carles

 

[McPede]

Small update.
The eggs hatched without problems and the nymphs are now near 1cm.

I'll see if I can get you a photo soon.

Best wishes
Fredrik

 

[Elytra and Antenna]

Small update.
The eggs hatched without problems and the nymphs are now near 1cm.

I'll see if I can get you a photo soon.

Best wishes
Fredrik

Nice to hear the babies are growing well, already 1/4-1/3 adult length in five months. Are the adults still alive? I didn't notice before how blue the photograph in this thread looks, the ones I remember were just a plain light gray as androctonus_bic mentions. Maybe the camera picks up a blue the human eye doesn't see.

 

[McPede]

Hi again and sorry for the late reply.

Yes, they have grown quite well as you can see in the photo.
We do have some adults still alive but we have also lost a few.

I'm not sure which Ommatoiulus species we have in culture, since there are quite a few species represented in this Genus.
But I'm 100% about the Genus and they were collected from Spain.

Best wishes
Fredrik

 

[McPede]

Type in Ommatoiulus in the genus field and you'll get a list of the species in Europe:
http://www.faunaeur.org/index.php

 

[Elytra and Antenna]

Maybe it's the camera or the species or geographic location but those look way nicer than the ones I remember, almost black and white. Nice.

 

[spydrhunter1]

Beautiful...wish they were here!

 

[McPede]

I forgot to say that all credits should be given to my good friend, Daniel.
All animals have been stationed at his place, so he's the "man" behind the success

 

[millipeter]

Nice to hear that this species has been breeded successful.

If you got them from Alicante it is definitvely O. rutilans

The color of this species varies a lot and even on one place the color varies from bright to dirty brownish.

Can you or Daniel give us some informations about the conditions you keep them (moisture, temperature, food, type of soil)? It would be great to establish this species in the hobby by successful breeding.

 

[McPede]

Nice to hear that this species has been breeded successful.

If you got them from Alicante it is definitvely O. rutilans

The color of this species varies a lot and even on one place the color varies from bright to dirty brownish.

Can you or Daniel give us some informations about the conditions you keep them (moisture, temperature, food, type of soil)? It would be great to establish this species in the hobby by successful breeding.

Hi!

Defenitively O. rutilans? Are you sure?
The reason why I ask, is that I have heard that in order to determine the correct species and subspecies, you need to examine and compare the male gonopods, since most species are defined by the structure of the male gonopods.
Don't get me wrong, but there are 24 species of Ommatoiulus found on the Spanish mainland (http://www.faunaeur.org/distribution.php), so that's why I wonder how you can be so sure on the correct subspecies.


I will ask Daniel if he can write down some notes on how to keep them.

Take care and have a nice weekend!

Best wishes
Fredrik

 

[millipeter]

The reason why I ask, is that I have heard that in order to determine the correct species and subspecies, you need to examine and compare the male gonopods, since most species are defined by the structure of the male gonopods. Or am I wrong?

You are right. About 5 years ago I got some from Alicante and the gonopods were examined. Cause I'm doing a lot of faunistic stuff in Germany I'm very familiar to the Mideuropeen species of millipedes and centipedes. In Germany O. rutilans also occures in some places but we only have the brownish anulated colorform and they are a bit smaller than the mediterranean ones but still the most robust julid species here.

If you are interested in your local millipedes I can advise the following book: Andersson et al. (2005): Nationalnyckeln till Sveriges flora och fauna, Mångfotingar - Myriapoda.
you get it at apollobooks

It's the most beautyful illustrated (modern) book i have ever seen about myriapods and you have all the nordic species in one book incl. keys

 

[McPede]

Peter, I have visited your site several times and also the forum, and I know that you are very skilled when it comes to millipedes, no question about that and this is not a debate on your knowledge at all, I am just asking this for my own curiosity.

Does the species Ommatoiulus rutilans look so different from the other Ommatoiulus species found in Spain, which makes them so easy to tell apart from the others?
Or wouldn't it be safer to say that the millipedes, pictured on the photo I sent, are an Ommatoiulus sp. because if I would like to be 100% sure of the subspecies, I would have to have the gonopods examined.

See what I'm trying to say?

Best wishes
Fredrik

 

[McPede]

Peter, did you actually think that I had missed that book?
It's one of those books you have to own or at least read for hours

Mfg
Fredrik

 

[millipeter]

Peter, did you actually think that I had missed that book?
It's one of those books you have to own or at least read for hours

That's my opinion too... and I like the Swedish language The owrds sounds so funny in my ear

I try to explain why I think it is this species.
Most of the Spanish species of Ommatoiulus have two lighter (light brownish-orange-red) stripes on the back (e.g. O. sabulosus, O. bavayi ). Some species have one darker median stripe on the back (e.g. O clavigerus, O. andalusius) and some species a lighter one (O. albolineatus).The others are single-colored (brown to black) like O. moreleti and there are some species that are anulated. Most of these anulated occur in the central or northeren part of spain and have different color patterns than O. rutilans (e.g. O.latinus). They are e.g. dark-light anulated, O. rutilans is light-dark anulated
O. rutilans seems to be also the anulated Ommatoiulus-species with the lightest colorforms and is the most common species (most records in literature) in spain especially in the southern part. Mass occureces are also known from O. rutilans
So I can be 99% sure that it is this species. But if you like you can send me a dead male for examination.

 

[McPede]

Many thanks for the reply, Peter, much appreciated!

I'll take your word for it, so we do have Ommatoiulus rutilans

Thanks once again for the great explaination and have a great weekend!

Best wishes
Fredrik