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Parcoblatta molt


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The previous male that I found is growing fast, and is SO much larger than the others. He is definitely a different species, one with black wings. Probably pennsylvanica

He is now a last instar, and feeding on apple in this photo

My guess is Periplaneta fuliginosa… but I could be wrong. We’ll see when it matures!

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You know, I thought of a GREAT way to look under the wings without having to wait until it dies or chill it and try to spread them. I have seen so many images of males that fell into water and had their wings perfectly out. Since they don't drown right away and can survive a few min of floating around, I could toss one in a bowl of water and then photograph the area that was previously covered by the wings. I can't wait to try it when this guy matures

I did not know we had that species in PA. I photographed one in NC before though... http://bugguide.net/node/view/353604/bgimage

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Not Periplaneta, the cerci are short and erect as opposed to long and at an angle. The hind tarsi look too long on this guy, and the face is flatter.

The water thing might be worth a try.

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If it's parthenogenesis, all the offspring will be females. Different than in hymenopterans. I wonder if there are micropterous male Parcoblatta?

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OK so I removed the last ooth and put it in a separate container of substrate after the female just dropped it under the piece of wood. The other day I looked and another female was carrying one and today when I lift up the cage and look from the bottom, I see the other ooth burried under the substrate. For now I just left it because it seems to be in a good spot.

Do you guys think they will eat any hatchlings that might hatch out? This is my first time raising any kind of roaches (in case you could not tell).

heres a pic of this female and her ooth before she burred it

IMG_3111.jpg

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I wonder if there are micropterous male Parcoblatta?

I'm pretty sure having the macropterous male is one characteristic of the genus.

@Vulgaris- This is the same colony you had those males that got out into your house from right? The males could have mated before they decided to play "escape from Alcatraz".

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There was three males and three females. They were actually easy to keep track of. The males matured and escaped waayy before any of the females matured. During their adult lives, the females never came in contact with any mature male

Here's a quick pic of the buried ooth. I hope the adults do not eat the hatchlings if it does hatch

http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff117/v.../IMG_3126-1.jpg

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Maybe one of the escapees made it back in to mate. Or (more likely) not. The adults won't eat the hatchlings.

Demon, he's raising 'em as pets.

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I guess it is an extremely remote possibility that one male made it back to mate and I did not notice. But then it comes down to which is more probable _ This theory, or the parthenogenesis theory?

Feed them to wasps?! When the females live out their lives, I will send one to an expert for species ID. I will probably pin the other two and keep them. I hope the ootheca hatch! :D

And by the way, I have another noob question. I have two new male nymphs as you have read in my previous posts. One is an enormous last instar. He will be the kind with the black wings (a completely different species than what I have). The other is a very orange individual (still a late instar nymph) who is probably going to be an orange adult but a different species than the others.

Will these actually be able to breed with the females? I did not plan on interbreeding, but I am kind of keeping them in the same enclosure so...

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Maybe one of the escapees made it back in to mate. Or (more likely) not. The adults won't eat the hatchlings.

Demon, he's raising 'em as pets.

I was thinking the exact same thing. In the wild I'd assume Parcoblatta males are experts at finding females, seeing as they have such short lives and a mature female ready to mate may be rare...

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hahaha, well then that arises the problem of how they survived indoors (without me catching sight of them during the search, may I add) for the weeks that it took for the females to mature. They were certainly not living in the enclosure (I would have seen them because I usually lifted up the piece of wood to check on the females every couple of days). I suppose they could have just returned in the dead of night for food, but I am not convinced.

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I guess it is an extremely remote possibility that one male made it back to mate and I did not notice. But then it comes down to which is more probable _ This theory, or the parthenogenesis theory?

Feed them to wasps?! When the females live out their lives, I will send one to an expert for species ID. I will probably pin the other two and keep them. I hope the ootheca hatch! :D

And by the way, I have another noob question. I have two new male nymphs as you have read in my previous posts. One is an enormous last instar. He will be the kind with the black wings (a completely different species than what I have). The other is a very orange individual (still a late instar nymph) who is probably going to be an orange adult but a different species than the others.

Will these actually be able to breed with the females? I did not plan on interbreeding, but I am kind of keeping them in the same enclosure so...

LOL i ment like breed them as feeders or have two colonies one for pets and the other as feeders.

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These theories are only needed if the ooth hatches anyway. Mantids sometimes lay infertile eggs for the heck of it, so that could be going on here.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Probably is pennsylvanica. Mine tend to be nearly black, but I've seen light and dark versions. Awesome photographs!

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  • 2 months later...

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