My Roaches

[Stardust1986]

Polyphaga saussurei:
Nymph

Pycnoscelus surinamensis:

Roaches can be cute, I am partial to the madagascar hissing cockroaches, I had one as a pet, I named him Clark, referencing Willard

 

[Hisserdude]

Roaches can be cute, I am partial to the madagascar hissing cockroaches, I had one as a pet, I named him Clark, referencing Willard

Indeed! I started with hissers too, (hence my username), but couldn't stop from branching out once I realized just how much variety there was in the roach hobby!

 

[Harmonicon]

So many roaches...

 

[Hisserdude]

So many roaches...

They are my favorite inverts lol!

 

[Hisserdude]

Arenivaga bolliana "Del Rio, TX" (Dark Form)
Adult male:

Adult female:

Arenivaga floridensis "Lake Placid, FL" (White Form)
Adult male:

 

[Hisserdude]

Princisia vanwaerebeki "Big/Black"

Not sure if I ever posted pictures of my first adult male, who matured late last year... Weird. Well this was the one adult male in my group of five, good pronotum structure, large size, and very thin but noticeable yellow abdominal margins:









And now most of the nymphs born earlier this year have now matured. I will say that while getting females to give birth can be a pain, the survival rates for my nymphs has been super high, so not as finicky as I thought. HOWEVER I am doubtful of their purity, since while most of the adults have a good amount of abdominal markings or at least very faint ones, there are a decent amount of adults popping up that are completely black, even without the red spots on the thoracic pads. So that has me sincerely doubting the purity of this strain, I mean coloration in hissers can be variable, and it's possible whoever owned this stock just never culled out darker adults and maybe even accidentally bred FOR it, but that's kind of a stretch for sure. However, the one sliver of hope I have in this stock being pure is that ALL the males that have popped up have Princisia pronotum structure, with the anterior notch being quite dramatic in larger males, and shallow but still noticeable in the minor males, (a lot of them ended up being minors too, and even the large ones came out rather small as a result of pretty severe crowding, an issue I have now corrected thankfully).

Here's a look at some of the new males and their pronotum structure, coloration is variable but the morphology looks more pure than the commonly traded, for sure hybrid stocks.

























As you can see, even on the minor males the pronotum notch definitely present, just shallow and similar to those of the "Tiger" hissers (which are likely another form of vanwaerebeki themselves, but I digress). The fifth male pictured here is one of the most extreme examples of a super shallow anterior notch I've seen in my culture. So I'm thinking the morphology seems pretty pure, but the coloration, not so much... Not sure which is most important, personally I think morphology, but time will tell I suppose, waiting on opinions from experienced Blatticulturists I've sent these to before saying for sure whether they are pure or not.

 

[Hisserdude]

Phortioeca sp. "Ecuador" (Spotted Bark Roach)
Finally got the chance to work with this species myself, I just received 8 small nymphs! Hopefully they do well for me, here are some pics of the nymphs:

Plectoptera poeyi (Florida Beetle Mimic Roach):
A very rarely found species from Florida, that actually mimics beetles! Fingers crossed this adorable species does well for me, I received one adult male and two adult females, and both of the females have already laid ooths!

 

[Hisserdude]

Panchlora sp. "Guadeloupe":
New banana roach species for the US hobby, adults of this species are a pale green, and very broad and flat, kind of like if a Panchlora sp. "Giant" got run over by a truck. Really hoping to get these breeding well for me, apparently they are as easy to breed as any of the other Panchlora spp., so fingers crossed! Some pics of my nymphs:











Panesthia angustipennis cognata "Cambodia":
Found about a dozen babies in the enclosure the other day, after a gestation period of approximately 6 months. I've officially bred all three Panesthiinae species in my collection, yay!

 

[Hisserdude]

Panchlora sp. "Guadeloupe", which have been dubbed as "Ripe Banana Roaches". Females are a solid silvery green, whereas males are green-yellow with two rusty red lines going down the upper half of their wings. Hoping they'll breed well so we can get them established in the US hobby!

Here are some pictures, first of a male:









And now here is a female:

 

[Hisserdude]

Also, got some better pictures of a couple adult female Arenivaga bolliana "Del Rio" (Dark Form). The females of this strain have red coloration on their abdomens, something females of the normal color form seem to lack.

 

[Hisserdude]

Aaaannd... I've got Plectoptera poeyi hatchlings! Actually found my first hatchlings a couple weeks ago, this species is a challenging one to breed, but worth it IMO, one of the most unique Ectobiids that can be found in the US! The hatchlings are SO small, about a mm long, and with very little mass to them. This one's a second instar I believe... so about 2 mms long.

 

[Hisserdude]

Lastly for tonight's round of overdue updates, a few of my male Gyna bisannulata nymphs have matured now, and man this species does not disaspoint!

Here are some pics of one of the handsome devils:











Fingers crossed my females mature soon!!!

 

[Hisserdude]

Chorisoneura parishi (Parish's Thin-nerved Roach)

Now, while these may LOOK like tiny, brown, unassuming roaches... Well, I mean, I guess they kinda are lol. BUT true roach enthusiasts will know that this species is rather uncommonly sighted, let alone kept in captivity, and is adventive in southern FL but has yet to spread to any other states. These are CB adults, I believe F1, maybe F2. Got them in a trade from Roachcrossing, and may actually be only one of two people currently keeping this species. I love the variability in color, the females are typically darker than the males, but there are lighter and darker individuals of both sexes.

This species seems to prefer low humidity, and good airflow, with leaf litter being a favored hide choice. Just like C.texensis, C.parishi love gluing their oothecae onto plastic, and one of these females actually laid her ooth on the lid of their shipping deli cup... Which I've just had to toss into their enclosure, because I can not scrape it off the lid without risk of smashing it. They've been super prolific for me so far, with the nymphs having a pretty high survival rate, much much easier than C.texensis.

Adult males:

Adult female:

Anallacta methanoides (Mauritian Zebra-Faced Roach)

Got this species again, hopefully they'll do as well as they did for me last time!

Nymph:

Adult female:

 

[Hisserdude]

Phortioeca sp. "Ecuador"

All but one of my nymphs have matured, and most are females! Fingers crossed for some offspring later next year!

Large nymphs:

Slightly teneral adults (the tips of their wings darkened up a little bit a few hours later but honestly they look much the same otherwise):

Gyna bisannulata (Patchwork Roach)

I've had several females mature, along with plenty more males, fingers crossed I get some offspring soon! Here are some pictures of a mating pair:

 

[Hisserdude]

Salganea taiwanensis taiwanensis

Some more recent pics of the colony, which is still small, but steadily growing:

Salganea raggei

Thanks to @Ty Randall for sending me a group of nymphs of this species! Looking forward to breeding them, I got to see Ty's culture last year before sending them off to him, so I do have pics of an adult and a large nymph to share as well taken from last year:

My new nymphs:

Adult from 2020:

Large nymph from 2020:

 

[Hisserdude]

Perisphaerus punctatus "Macao" (Punctate Roly-poly Roach)

We finally have more than one Perisphaerus in the US hobby, these ones entered culture thanks to @Martin, who has been breeding these cuties for a while now. They are quite similar to Perisphaerus pygmaeus, but with some key differences. Namely, both sexes of punctatus are broader in morphology than pygmaeus, and females have a glossier exoskeleton. Not only are female punctatus slightly bigger than pygmaeus females, but adult male punctatus are TWICE the size of male pygmaeus, and much more proportionate to female punctatus, (whereas the size disparity between male and female pygmaeus is much more noticable). Hopefully I can breed these successfully and get them established in the US hobby!

Adult female punctatus:

Adult male punctatus:

Adult P.punctatus pair, note the similar length:

Adult P.pygmaeus pair, note the more noticeable size disparity:

Adult male punctatus (right) VS adult male pygmaeus (left):

Adult female punctatus (bottom) VS adult female pygmaeus (top):

Perisphaerus pygmaeus (Pygmy Roly-poly Roach)

The hobby classic Perisphaerus.
More adult pics. Also, I propose we change the common name of this species to "Pygmy Roly-poly Roach" rather than just "Roly-poly Roach", since there are now at least three species of Perisphaerus in US culture alone, and all species in the genus Perisphaerus roll into balls.

Adult female:

Adult male:

Perisphaerus sp. "Kota Kinabalu" (Copper-green Roly-poly Roach)

One of many recent additions to my collection, Perisphaerus sp. "Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia". This roly poly roach is a metallic copper green color in person, it's hard to properly catch on camera, but I think the first few pics show it off decently. Under flash though they just look dark copper, (as you can see in the last two pictures). I just received some adult females and a few mixed nymphs last week, and one of the females gave birth already! Hopefully I can establish this species in the US hobby, it'll be the first metallic Perisphaerus to get established in culture here if so, and also the largest hobby Perisphaerus so far! This is one of my favorite roach genera ever, so stoked to be working with three different species now!

Adult female under sunlight:

Adult female with newborns:

Adult female under flash:

 

[Arthroverts]

Perisphaerus punctatus "Macao" (Punctate Roly-poly Roach)

We finally have more than one Perisphaerus in the US hobby, these ones entered culture thanks to @Martin, who has been breeding these cuties for a while now. They are quite similar to Perisphaerus pygmaeus, but with some key differences. Namely, both sexes of punctatus are broader in morphology than pygmaeus, and females have a glossier exoskeleton. Not only are female punctatus slightly bigger than pygmaeus females, but adult male punctatus are TWICE the size of male pygmaeus, and much more proportionate to female punctatus, (whereas the size disparity between male and female pygmaeus is much more noticable). Hopefully I can breed these successfully and get them established in the US hobby!

Adult female punctatus:

Adult male punctatus:

Adult P.punctatus pair, note the similar length:

Adult P.pygmaeus pair, note the more noticeable size disparity:

Adult male punctatus (right) VS adult male pygmaeus (left):

Adult female punctatus (bottom) VS adult female pygmaeus (top):

Perisphaerus pygmaeus (Pygmy Roly-poly Roach)

The hobby classic Perisphaerus.
More adult pics. Also, I propose we change the common name of this species to "Pygmy Roly-poly Roach" rather than just "Roly-poly Roach", since there are now at least three species of Perisphaerus in US culture alone, and all species in the genus Perisphaerus roll into balls.

Adult female:

Adult male:

Perisphaerus sp. "Kota Kinabalu" (Copper-green Roly-poly Roach)

One of many recent additions to my collection, Perisphaerus sp. "Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia". This roly poly roach is a metallic copper green color in person, it's hard to properly catch on camera, but I think the first few pics show it off decently. Under flash though they just look dark copper, (as you can see in the last two pictures). I just received some adult females and a few mixed nymphs last week, and one of the females gave birth already! Hopefully I can establish this species in the US hobby, it'll be the first metallic Perisphaerus to get established in culture here if so, and also the largest hobby Perisphaerus so far! This is one of my favorite roach genera ever, so stoked to be working with three different species now!

Adult female under sunlight:

Adult female with newborns:

Adult female under flash:

Roaches from Kinabalu but no leeches?!? C'mon man...

Great to see your collection regrowing after your break from the hobby.

Thanks,

Arthroverts

 

[Hisserdude]

Roaches from Kinabalu but no leeches?!? C'mon man...

Great to see your collection regrowing after your break from the hobby.

Thanks,

Arthroverts

You know me, always got roaches on the brain... Are there any interesting leeches from that area of Malaysia though, just curious?

Thanks, me too!

 

[Hisserdude]

Ah, found my old roach thread.

Paranauphoeta formosana, Formosan Assassin Bug Mimic.

Nymph:

Adult:

 

[GBBFreak]

You know me, always got roaches on the brain... Are there any interesting leeches from that area of Malaysia though, just curious?

Thanks, me too!

Hey Hisserdude

(So you asked quite some time ago, but anyway...)

Indeed, there's a species of giant leech living on the neighbouring mountain (Mt. Kinabalu, highest peak in S-E Asia), which also gives its name to the city of Kota Kinabalu/KK:
-> Kinabalu giant red leech - Wikipedia

Leeches are over the place around KK city, not just in water. If you go into the jungle, you barely get to walk 1 meter before you get them sucking on your legs... But they're usually quite small, just a few centimeters usually.

If these roaches (Perisphaerus sp. Kota Kinabalu) actually come from around Kota Kinabalu itself, it's way off from said mountain (about 50 miles).
Any idea what's the original habitat of these? Are they tree or ground dwelling? I'd say the former, as they look pretty much like Emerald roaches. I'll be in the area of Kota Kinabalu in Dec, so I might be able to spot some of these in the wild.


EDIT: I have some kind of fascination for (forest) roaches too, I must confess... They're too cute to be fed imo. I bought Dubias as feeders, but in the end, I'm just raising them, only feeding my Ts an old male once in a while... I also got myself some Pseudoglomeris magnifica lately. Perhaps my little collection will grow, who knows...

Cheers